During a recent appearance at MCM Comic-Con, Doug Cockle addressed the ongoing reports of Henry Cavill’s Witcher exit. The Witcher video game actor specifically mentioned Cavill’s reported creative differences with the writers on the Netflix show, praising Cavill’s love for the source material and acknowledging the show’s various changes.
Cavill’s exit from the Netflix fantasy show has been the main topic of conversation in the entertainment industry for the past two months, as it aligned with his Superman return in Black Adam’s post-credits, intended to see him back for far more projects in the DC Universe, including a potential Man of Steel 2. However, those plans were ultimately cancelled by new DC Studios leaders James Gunn and Peter Safran, leaving Cavill briefly without a path forward before partnering with Amazon to develop a Warhammer cinematic universe for Amazon Prime Video while The Witcher forges ahead with Liam Hemsworth taking over as Geralt of Rivia in season 4.
Doug Cockle (Geralt's voice in the games) on Henry Cavill's situation with The Witcher. pic.twitter.com/HJLAqGdtDI
— Henry Cavill Updates (@updatesofHC) December 30, 2022
Though critics have been generally favorable for both seasons of the show, fans of The Witcher books have proven largely critical of the Netflix series, particularly for the various changes made to Andrzej Sapkowski’s source material. One of the more egregious changes came in The Witcher season 2 when Freya Allan’s Ciri and Anya Chalotra’s Yennefer first meet and begin interacting, a dynamic those who followed both the novels and CD Projekt Red’s video games were looking forward to given their mother-daughter-like relationship. Instead, the show saw a more menacing take on their interactions as Yennefer only intended to sacrifice Ciri to the Deathless Mother in the hopes of regaining her magic, with Geralt losing his trust in who is supposed to be one of his biggest love interests.
Reports of Cavill’s creative differences on The Witcher regarding the changes from the source material came around the time former writer Beau DeMayo indicated that the show’s writers actively disliked Sapkowski’s novels. Though it’s yet to be confirmed whether this factored into his departure from the series, as Cockle mentions, it’d be an understandable reason for his leaving considering how passionate he is about the novels and video games. But, with showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich promising that The Witcher season 3 will focus more on the books, a shift towards a more faithful adaptation of Sapkowski’s works could see the Netflix series survive its controversial Liam Hemsworth season 4 recasting.
