The creative team behind The Witcher universe are fighting an uphill battle it doesn’t feel as though they can win, with the battle lines having been drawn pretty firmly in the sand since Henry Cavill shockingly departed as Geralt of Rivia.
The famously private actor hasn’t publicly disclosed his reasons for jumping ship three seasons into the blockbuster fantasy, but conspiracy theories have already been making the rounds touting his presumed discontent with the direction of the show. Liam Hemsworth was instantly announced as his replacement, but it would be an understatement to say the news went down like a lead balloon.
In fact, you’d have to trawl very deeply through the dark recesses of the internet to find anyone particularly excited about the recasting, with the majority of talk blasting showrunner Lauren Hissrich and her cohorts for torpedoing their own franchise by making a casting swap nobody asked for, needed, or can even contemplate getting on board with.
Either way, Hissrich tried to make the best of a bad situation in an interview with Total Film to promote prequel series Blood Origin, promising that Hemsworth will bring a “new energy” to the fourth season and maybe beyond.
“I’m so excited for viewers. I think that it’s just a new chapter for us. And I think new chapters bring new energy and that people will find things to love. So yeah, personally, I’m really excited.”
Having already begged audiences to stick around to keep The Witcher gravy train rolling, we’ve got a sneaking suspicion Hissrich will be doing her utmost to convince them the absence of Cavill shouldn’t lead to the masses abandoning the universe in droves, although we’re not sure it’ll work like that.