Henry Cavill made waves over Halloween weekend when the announcement was made that he would no longer be Geralt of Rivia for The Witcher’s fourth season. Cavill made the announcement on his Instagram account.
“My journey as Geralt of Rivia has been filled with both monsters and adventures, and alas, I will be laying down my medallion and my swords for Season 4,” Cavill said in a statement on his Instagram. “In my stead, the fantastic Mr Liam Hemsworth will be taking up the mantle of the White Wolf. As with the greatest of literary characters, I pass the torch with reverence for the time spent embodying Geralt and enthusiasm to see Liam’s take on this most fascinating and nuanced of men. Liam, good sir, this character has such a wonderful depth to him, enjoy diving in and seeing what you can find.”
The Hunger Games veteran Liam Hemsworth is stepping in for Cavill going forward as the new Geralt of Riva.
So why did Cavill leave the show? The obvious answer, or at least the perception, seems to be that since Cavill is returning to the role of Superman after he appeared in the Black Adam post-credits scene, he will resume his film career.
Cavill recently spoke with HappySadConfused podcast host Josh Horowitz, and expressed his excitement about his future as Superman. He also teased that fans should expect a “enormously joyful” take on the character in upcoming DC Comics movies, a departure from the dark and brooding version seen in films like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
“The character means so much to me. It’s been five years now. I never gave up hope. It’s amazing to be here now talking about it again. There is such a bright future ahead for the character. I’m so excited to tell a story with an enormously joyful Superman.”
But the reason for Cavill’s departure from the show is a lot more simple than just him donning the cape to play Superman because as of right now, a new Superman movie is only in the early stages of development at Warner Brothers Discovery, with Chuck Roven attached as a producer. Roven has been working on live-action DC Comics movies since 2005’s Batman Begins.
The key detail is that the yet-to-be titled Superman project does not yet have a director or a writer. Even if Warner Bros Discovery found a writer for Superman, the development process alone could take up to a year from commencement to script delivery. That means Cavill would put Superman’s cape back on in 2024 at the earliest with a movie hitting cinemas in 2025.
Henry Cavill’s The Witcher contract explained
According to a source familiar with how Netflix deals actually work, it probably came down to Cavill’s The Witcher contract, which was up for renewal and his team probably asked for a significant pay raise.
“These Netflix deals work in three season intervals,” the source told Heroic Hollywood. “After the third year they have to renegotiate deals with talent and that’s why they often cancel the show after three years.”
However, since The Witcher is a huge IP for Netflix, the streamer wasn’t obviously going to cancel the show. Hence why they went to Hemsworth. However, the source made two interesting points.
“I think it’s two fold here. Number one: Cavill wanted to move on to do movies now that Superman is going to anchor his movie career again,” the source added. “Number two: Cavill wasn’t gonna do a fourth season of the show unless he got a significant raise so they mutually parted ways. It’s pretty straightforward.”
Makes a lot of sense. In the meantime, we can look forward to Cavill returning to his most iconic role in the years to come.
“I went to Warner Bros. studio in the UK and got back in the suit. It was a very powerful moment for me. I wasn’t sure how I would feel… whether it would be something very emotionally connective because I put the Man of Steel suit back on. I chose that one in particular because of the nostalgia attached to the suit. It was important for me to be standing there and enjoying that moment. That is one of the top moments in my career. It feels great to have the opportunity to wear it again.”
