‘The Witcher’s Behind-the-Scenes Drama Is Overshadowing the Show

From the moment Henry Cavill announced his departure from The Witcher, we all knew Netflix had an uphill battle ahead of them to keep fans engaged. Any show that loses its main star is doomed to suffer some backlash, but The Witcher is in an even more delicate position since Cavill helped to create the definitive live-action version of Geralt of Rivia. Yet, when we consider how smoothly the official transition happened for all parts involved, it’s sad to realize that the behind-the-scenes drama of The Witcher is overshadowing the series. That’s because the online discussion has been focused on Cavill being replaced by Liam Hemsworth and how this is supposedly evidence of The Witcher‘s writers’ room’s neglect of Andrzej Sapkowski‘s books. So, instead of discussing the show itself, an extremely vocal contingent of fans have just been pouring their energies into a narrative born from rumors and vague statements — and that’s a shame, since Season 3 of The Witcher does prove there’s a future for the show beyond Cavill.

The Witcher

Geralt of Rivia, a solitary monster hunter, struggles to find his place in a world where people often prove more wicked than beasts.

Release Date

December 20, 2019

Creator

Lauren Schmidt Hissrich

Main Genre

Drama

Seasons

4

Why Did Henry Cavill Leave ‘The Witcher’?

When it comes to the known facts, Cavill left The Witcher after Season 3 of his own volition, although the star didn’t make any official announcement to explain his reasons. At the time of the announcement, Deadline reported that Cavill had signed a short-term deal for the show’s first three seasons and decided not to revisit his contract pertaining to appearing in further seasons, as his co-stars did. According to internal sources, one of the main reasons for Cavill’s departure was how demanding The Witcher‘s shooting schedules were. Since the fantasy series is one of Netflix’s biggest hits, the streamer spares no expense on production, with one single Season 3 episode taking up to a month to film. Adding to the fact that The Witcher is mainly shot in London, away from many stars’ homes, it’s safe to say that remaining attached to the show is a huge time commitment, and it’s reasonable for Cavill to choose to walk away from that.

It’s worth noting that Cavill’s departure from The Witcher was announced in the same week the star was supposedly hired back by DC to play Superman, another iconic role in his career. As we know now, Cavill had not been officially asked to return to the DC Universe, and his appearance in Black Adam was part of Dwayne Johnson‘s initiative to turn his own anti-hero into the new narrative center of DC. It was an unfortunate development for Cavill, who still landed on his feet and scored a juicy deal with Amazon Studios to adapt the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Still, the timing of all these events indicates that Cavill’s replacement in The Witcher was motivated by the star’s desire to pursue different projects.

Do ‘The Witcher’s Writers Hate the Books?

One of the rules of Hollywood is that any time a TV show or film tries adapting a beloved fantasy universe, a portion of the fanbase will get angry about writers changing the source material. While there are good and bad choices when it comes to introducing changes to canon, every adaptation has to deviate from the source material in some way based on the simple fact that the written word is a different device than a story brought to life on-screen. Even acclaimed adaptations, such as Peter Jackson‘s The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Harry Potter film franchise, featured drastic alterations to the source material that don’t take away their prestige.

What makes The Witcher‘s situation particularly unique is that many fans dissatisfied with the changes introduced by the show subscribe to the theory that the show’s writers hate the original book series. Furthermore, many rumors began circulating about how Cavill constantly fought with The Witcher‘s crew to defend Sapkowski’s work, given that the actor is a fan of the books. But did Cavill have frequent conflicts with The Witcher’s writers and directors about the show’s changes to canon? The fact is, we don’t know for certain.

Cavill has given dozens of interviews in which he declares his love for the franchise as a reader and a gamer. So, there’s no question the star is a fan of The Witcher universe. Even so, there hasn’t been a single statement from Cavill about direct conflict during filming. And since Cavill is highly professional in his interactions with the press, some fans prefer to believe he has been hiding his woes and use other people’s statements to support the narrative of Cavill’s dissatisfaction.

The person who gets quoted the most during these discussions is writer Beau DeMayo, who worked on two episodes of The Witcher and the spinoff animated film Nightmare of the Wolf. According to DeMayo, during his experience in the writers’ room, some of his colleagues “disliked the books and games (even actively mocking the source material).” It’s an anecdote that has been dismissed by showrunner Lauren Schmidt-Hissrich multiple times. For instance, during our set visit for The Witcher Season 3, Schmidt-Hissrich talked in length about how Sapkowski’s Time of Contempt is her favorite book in the series. So, who’s telling the truth? Maybe both, maybe neither. Different people can have their own take on what’s disrespectful towards canon, and that’s absolutely fine. In the end, though, we have a cacophony of conflicting voices that don’t make the picture any clearer. On the contrary, there’s as much evidence for The Witcher writers hating the source material as for Cavill allegedly being a difficult actor to work with.

More fuel to the rumors came from vague quotes from Cavill’s co-star Anya Chalotra about how certain parties tried to defy directors without having a clear idea of the bigger picture. In Chalotra’s words, “… if you’re stubborn and insist a scene has to be played a certain way, nothing is going to work.” Who is the person being stubborn on set? Is it Cavill? Another co-star? Is Chalotra just being hypothetical? We don’t know, and unless someone decides to address the whole issue publicly, we cannot know for sure. Despite the ambiguity, fans have been trying to weigh every quote from any cast member as evidence of more significant issues in The Witcher‘s production when the discussion should revolve around the show itself.

The Obsession With ‘The Witcher’s Behind-the-Scenes Drama Hurts the Show

The issue with obsessing about The Witcher‘s behind-the-scenes drama is that watching the show turns into an investigation exercise. Instead of judging the show for what it is, this subset of fans has been monopolizing the discussion to use specific frames and scenes as evidence that a bigger problem exists with the production. That’s an unhealthy way to consume television, not to mention these same fans determining that they won’t like the show from now on because of Cavill’s departure — regardless of the series’ former star being extremely kind to Hemsworth and wishing him good luck as the new Geralt along with the rest of the cast. It’s an approach that creates a toxic environment around something people should be passionate about.

That doesn’t mean people cannot criticize The Witcher and dislike its creative choices. We are all aware the show has many issues, from constantly splitting up the party to putting too much focus on the political disputes of the Continent. Constructive criticism can always improve any production, and even just venting your frustrations is a perfectly reasonable thing for fans to do. What is damaging is that some people are so worried about what happens behind the scenes that they no longer discuss the show as its own product. Even reports Netflix might delay the production of The Witcher Season 4 are used as proof the series is doomed, fans are right, and writers are wrong — despite the fact these delays occurred in the middle of an unprecedented strike movement that led every major studio to delay movies and TV shows. Yet, for some, the truth is less important than supporting the narrative they have created of The Witcher‘s off-camera drama.

It’s still too soon to know how Hemsworth will fare in the role of Geralt. Still, Season 3 lays the groundwork for The Witcher to succeed in the upcoming season and Netflix has already announced a fifth and final season in the future. But the audience will only enjoy the rest of the story if they begin to focus more on the show than on the supposed controversies behind the scenes.

All three seasons of The Witcher are now available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.

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