This week brings The Witcher back to screens for its penultimate run of episodes prior to Henry Cavill’s departure, with Liam Hemsworth waiting in the wings to take over as Geralt of Rivia.
Given the ex-Superman’s popularity, connection with the source material, fandom of the video game franchise, and dedication to the character, saying he’s going to be missed is an understatement. In fact, it wouldn’t be a stretch to call it one of the more controversial recastings to come along in a while, with many demanding that Netflix simply cancel The Witcher instead of carrying on without its original leading man.
However, executive producers Steve Gaub and Tomek Baginski are either supremely confident or completely oblivious to the ongoing furor, after claiming in an interview with Yahoo that the ol’ switcheroo hovering just over the horizon is going to be pulled off without a hitch and instantly accepted by audiences the world over.
“I don’t want to get too emotional, but it was a great journey to have Henry Cavill on this show and we will miss him. But, at the same time, we have a very, very good plan to introduce our new Geralt and our new vision for Geralt with Liam. 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.”
As always, the proof will be in the execution, but The Witcher fandom needs to be won over in order to even contemplate the prospect of Hemsworth stepping into the main role, never mind carrying on as the anchor of the entire universe for potentially many more seasons to come.