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The Witcher fans sign petition to bring back Henry Cavill


Published : 03 Nov 2022 08:11 PM

Following the news that Henry Cavill will depart The Witcher after season 3, fans have started a petition calling on Netflix to bring the actor back.

A new fan petition calls for Netflix to bring back Henry Cavill as the titular monster hunter on the popular fantasy adventure series, The Witcher. Based on a series of books of the same name by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski, The Witcher premiered on the streaming giant in 2019 and quickly gained a massive following. The series follows Geralt of Rivia (Cavill), an enchanted mercenary who is hired to kill mythical creatures but finds himself at the center of a political power struggle between warring kingdoms and must protect a young princess who carries an incredible mysterious power within her.

Although Cavill's casting as the Witcher caused hesitation among the fanbase, their fears were immediately allayed as audiences found his performance captivating. However, Cavill recently announced that he is leaving The Witcher following season 3 and will not be reprising the role in season 4. In the same announcement, the actor revealed that The Hunger Games star Liam Hemsworth will replace him as Geralt. Fans have understandably been upset with the news and began speculating what the real reason behind Cavill's decision is despite previously stating his commitment to showrunner Lauren Hissrich's 7-year plan.

Days after Cavill's departure was announced, a petition was posted on Change.org calling for Cavill's reinstatement as Geralt on The Witcher. With over 26,000 signatures at the time of this writing, the petition demands that Cavill returns to the role, citing Sapkowski's praise of the actor and threatening Netflix with loss of customers following season 3. Bringing up the end of Game of Thrones as an example of a colossal failure, the petition pleads with Netflix to rid themselves of writers who do not wish to honor the source material and replace them with writers who will do the books justice.

Cavill's casting proved popular with fans as it was revealed that the actor was a longtime admirer of both the original Witcher novels and the immensely popular video game series by CD Projekt Red. Although a large portion of the fanbase loved Cavill's portrayal of the titular character, they had issues with the direction of The Witcher's plot. There were several major story and character changes from the book. Couple that with previous reports that the show's writers were not fans of the books and actively mocked them, and it is understandable why fans would create a petition to bring back the one part of The Witcher they all enjoyed.