The Witcher has faced controversy following the news that Henry Cavill will be recast as Geralt of Rivia, with The Hunger Games star Liam Hemsworth taking over the role. Producers assure fans that Cavill’s exit will not only honor his time as the character, but will explain why Geralt has a new face.

Not much is known about why Henry Cavill ended up leaving The Witcher. While many speculate it has to do with his short-lived return as Superman in Black Adam, others believe it had to do with the Netflix series straying too far from the original novels. Regardless of the reason, executive producers Steve Gaub and Tomek Baginski have assured fans they’ll send Cavill off with a bang:

“It’s a very strong season for Henry, a great final run for him as Geralt,” Gaub told Yahoo News. “I think the most important thing for us was to make sure he was very proud of those last [scenes], invariably those last moments are the ones you leave an audience with, and those last couple episodes are very strong episodes for him.”

“I think he left with his head held high and passing the reins as many franchises end up doing, passing a title character from one actor to another, and we’re going to be in great hands with Liam. We’re looking forward to the new explorations of Geralt with a new person behind it, a new actor and a new face.”

Tomek Baginski puts extra emphasis on the “new face” part of the equation. Many fans have wondered how or even if The Witcher will address Henry Cavill being replaced by Liam Hemsworth in-universe. According to Baginski, there’s a very lore accurate reason for the change:

“We have a very, very good plan to introduce our new Geralt and our new vision for Geralt with Liam. Not going deeply into those ideas because this will be a huge spoiler, [but] it’s also very, very close to the meta ideas which are deeply embedded in the books, especially in book five,” He explains “It’s very lore accurate. It’s very close to what was set out in the books and I think this change will be quite flawless. But at the same time it will be a new Geralt, it will be a new face for this character and I think it will also be very, very exciting to see.”

If it’s true Henry Cavill left The Witcher due to Netflix straying too far from the books, it almost seems a cruel twist of fate that they would start following the letter of the lore only when he’s racast with Liam Hemsworth. While fans may be disappointed Cavill won’t be returning as Geralt of Rivia, it seems as though the show is in good hands.

The future of Netflix’s The Witcher series

The third season of The Witcher is currently scheduled to hit Netflix in Summer 2023. The series has already been renewed for a fourth season, with Henry Cavill being replaced by Australian actor Liam Hemsworth, best known for his work in the Hunger Games series and the Independence Day sequel.

The first two seasons of The Witcher are currently available to stream on Netlfix. Based on the series of books by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski and developed for television by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, The Witcher also stars Anya Chalotra, Freya Allan and Joey Batey.

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