Over 200,000 The Witcher fans sign petition to keep Henry Cavill and replace the writers

15 November 2022, 12:17

Henry Cavill announces his return as Superman

By Sam Prance

It was recently announced that Liam Hemsworth will play Geralt instead of Henry Cavill in The Witcher season 4.

Loading audio...

Over 200,000 fans have signed a petition asking Netflix to keep Henry Cavill in The Witcher and fire the writers of the show.

Last month (Oct 29), Henry Cavill announced that he is leaving The Witcher. Henry said: "I will be laying down my medallion and my swords for Season 4. In my stead, the fantastic Mr Liam Hemsworth will be taking up the mantle of the White Wolf. Liam, good sir, this character has such a wonderful depth to him, enjoy diving in and seeing what you can find."

At the same time, Liam Hemsworth took to his own Instagram to write: "Henry Cavill has been an incredible Geralt, and I’m honoured that he’s handing me the reins and allowing me to take up the White Wolf’s blades for the next chapter of his adventure. I may have some big boots to fill, but I’m truly excited to be stepping into The Witcher world."

While many people are excited to see Liam take on the role, others are now calling for Netflix to reinstate Henry as Geralt.

The Witcher: Over 200,000 fans sign petition to keep Henry Cavill and replace the writers. Picture: Netflix, change.org

In a viral petition, titled: "NETFLIX: You MUST keep Henry Cavill as The Witcher and replace the writers instead", a fan called Stef Ma argues: "Henry isn’t leaving The Witcher because of Superman, Netflix executives have once again made a grave decision against delivering for their fans." Henry recently revealed that he will be playing the role of Superman again.

They add: "The reason why The Witcher is such a popular show is the fans’ love of the source material of books and games, that are hated by and have actively been mocked by the writers and showrunner. Henry Cavill is one of those big fans, he knows all of it inside out and wanted to stay true to Sapkowski’s world, which is why Netflix wants to replace him."

Stef then encourages fans of the show to sign the petition and let Netflix know that they want Henry back with a new team that properly honours Andrzej Sapkowski's books that the series is based on. As of right now, over 223,000 people have signed the petition.

Why did Henry Cavill leave The Witcher?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Henry Cavill (@henrycavill)

As it stands, Henry is yet to explain why he's decided to step down from the show. However, it's possible that it was due to creative differences. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter in 2021, Henry said he was "absolutely" committed to playing Geralt for the entire show, adding: "As long as we can keep telling great stories which honour Sapkowski’s work."

However, Henry also told The Star that same year that he had often clashed with showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich over their vision. He said: "The toughest part for me was finding that balance between the showrunners’ vision and my love for the books and trying to bring that Geralt to the showrunners’ vision."

He added: "The things that I pushed for; it was not necessarily just more dialogue. It was bringing a more book-accurate Geralt to the screen.... All of my asks and requests were along the lines of just being faithful to the source material."

Netflix are yet to respond to the backlash. We shall update you if they do.