Forbes Magazine finally reveals:, Why Is Henry Cavill Leaving ‘The Witcher?’

Along with the rest of The Witcher fandom, I’ve been mulling over what could possibly cause Cavill to walk away from a dream project like this. The obvious answer, of course, is that he’s returning to the DCU as the Man of Steel. Superman is a big deal, a time-consuming project and one that likely pays better than The Witcher.

But news of his return to DC is very fresh. “I wanted to make it official: I am back as Superman,” Cavill posted to Instagram on October 24th. “Thank you for your support and thank you for your patience. I promise it will be rewarded.”

This came alongside Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s admission that he “fought for years” to bring Cavill back as Superman.

“We fought for years to bring you back,” Johnson wrote on Instagram a week later. “They always said no. But for [producers] Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia & myself ‘no’ was never an option. We can’t intelligently & strategically build out our DC Universe without the greatest superhero of all time. Because for us, the fans will always come first.”

The timeline is a bit murky here, but Cavill’s cameo in the mid-credits scene of Black Adam was only filmed a month ago. The Rock’s part of the scene was shot first and they edited it together in the hopes that Warner Bros would approve Cavill’s return, which only happened when The Rock went behind then-DCEU chief Walter Hamada’s back. We can assume that this all came together within the last six to eight weeks.

So when did Cavill decide to leave The Witcher? That’s a big question that we may never know the answer to. We can only make an educated guess. His departure came alongside news that Geralt had already been recast as Liam Hemsworth. We can safely assume that there was some period between Cavill telling Netflix he was stepping down and the decision to carry on with the series and recast Geralt. We can also safely assume that the casting took some time—I doubt they had Hemsworth in their back pocket at this point. If they did, then Cavill’s decision to leave was known even earlier.

All of this suggests—though doesn’t prove—that Cavill was planning to leave the role prior to getting the greenlight on Superman. Granted, the British actor has been hoping to return to the role for some time now, but it seems likely he was at least one foot out The Witcher door when the Superman news came down.

“The character means so much to me,” Cavill said in a recent interview about the Man of Steel. “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.”

This suggests to me that Cavill was already dissatisfied with the direction of the show before he was confirmed as Superman and had likely already put in notice before being given the go-ahead at Warner Bros/DC.

It’s time to stop tossing those coins to Cavill, because on October 29, 2022, Netflix revealed that Geralt has been recast for season four with Liam Hemsworth (The Hunger Games) now set to star as the titular White Wolf.

In an official statement following this big reveal, our new Geralt said he’s “over the moon” about the opportunity to play him. That’s lovely, but a lot of fans have already made it clear they’re not happy with this change.

As Liam himself said, he has “some big boots to fill,” and for most viewers, it’s impossible right now to imagine anyone other than Cavill in the role.

Regardless of what you think of the show, one thing The Witcher fans all seemed to agree on is that Henry is the Witcher, perfectly embodying the Geralt of their dreams from the books and games alike.

So what gives? Well, in a statement of his own, Cavill was typically gracious about leaving the show and wished Liam all the best as his replacement:

“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.”

That’s all well and good, but why exactly did Henry decide to break our hearts leave The Witcher in the first place? No official reason has been given just yet, but we have our suspicions…

Upon hearing the news, most fans immediately figured that Henry Cavill’s exit from The Witcher might have something to do with his other signature role. Yep, you know the one.

And to be fair, the timing of this announcement was curious. Just this week, Henry finally returned as Superman in the mid-credits scene for Black Adam.

This has been a long time coming for fans and Cavill alike. For many, he is the perfect Superman, and Henry’s certainly established himself as a fan-favourite in the role, despite DC’s wider universe-building issues.

Things seem set to change over at Warner Bros now that Worlds of DC has new management, and Superman’s return could very well be a part of that. After all, Dwayne Johnson just revealed that he’s “fought for years” to bring Cavill back, and since then, Henry has confirmed that this cameo is just “a very small taste of what’s to come.”

The first time the internet saw DCU Superman star Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia in Netflix’s adaptation of The Witcher, it howled in collective laughter over the terrible wig. Four years later, fans are losing their minds that Hollywood’s leading himbo won’t be reprising the role after season three ends. One obvious explanation for why is that Cavill has signed on to shoot a new Superman movie, but fans think the real reason Cavill is leaving is that he’s tired of fighting with Netflix to keep The Witcher true to its literary source material.

The surprising news of Cavill’s impending departure was shared yesterday in a statement by Netflix that also announced Liam Hemsworth of Hunger Games fame would be taking over the role in season four. “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,” Cavill was quoted as saying. “Liam, good sir, this character has such a wonderful depth to him, enjoy diving in and seeing what you can find.”

While many were disappointed that The Man From U.N.C.L.E. would no longer be caught growling “Roach” at horses in future seasons, Witcher fans took the news especially badly. Subreddits for the books, games, and Netflix series blew up with disbelief, frustration, and memes, while conspiracy theories got passed around on Twitter that Cavill had been more or less forced out over creative differences with a production that has at times taken generous liberties with Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski’s original novels. Certain parts of the Witcher fandom have always had a toxic relationship with the show, fuming over certain casting choices and plot deviations, and Cavill’s departure is now being taken as validation of every criticism they’ve ever had.

To support their theories, fans point to a breadcrumb trail of previous interview quotes by Cavill about his desire to keep Netflix’s Geralt true to the one originally put to paper in the pages of fantasy magazine Fantastyka back in 1986. Less than a year ago the actor said he told the Hollywood Reporter he was “absolutely” committed to the show’s seven-season plan “as long as we can keep telling great stories which honor [author Andrzej] Sapkowski’s work.”