Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Topics: The Witcher, Henry Cavill, Film and TV, Netflix
Joe Harker
Netflix could suffer a serious blow to the popularity of their fantasy show The Witcher once Henry Cavill leaves after the third season.
Fans of the series, based off the series of books by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski and boosted in popularity by the video game series, have been dismayed at the news that Henry Cavill is leaving the role as Geralt of Rivia.
Liam Hemsworth has already been confirmed to take over the role and will step into the shoes of the monster hunter from season four onwards.
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Filming has already wrapped on season three, which is due to be released next year and once it's done Cavill will no longer be leading the show.
However, it sounds like plenty of fans might not be tuning in once Cavill goes, which would be a big problem for the Netflix show.
Fans of the show have been very vocal about their support for The Man from U.N.C.L.E actor, with plenty taking to social media to voice their plans to quit after season three.
One person said 'f**k these endless, soulless, faithless adaptations', while another said they didn't blame Cavill as he 'had to work with people who don't care about the character or the source material'.
Someone else claimed the actor was 'the only person involved with that show who gave a s**t about The Witcher', arguing that he was 'constantly fighting' to keep the series in line with the books.
Twitter account @CultureCrave polled their followers and after over 200,000 responses the results overwhelmingly found that people were planning to ditch The Witcher.
Of those who responded, 81.9 percent of people said they wouldn't be watching The Witcher season four once Cavill left.
While a Twitter poll is pretty unscientific, it's not a good indication of how the show might do once Cavill hands over Geralt's swords.
Fans reckon they know why Cavill is stepping down from the role, a part he fought so hard to get as a huge fan of The Witcher books and games.
While some think it's because he's got more Superman projects coming down the pipeline and will be busier than ever, many believe Cavill was unhappy with the way the show was going as it took some pretty serious deviations from the source material.
The actor had previously said he was committed to seven whole seasons of the show as long as they stayed true to the books, telling IGN last year he wanted to do justice to the character and books.
He said: "The books are so nuanced, and there is so much complexity to the characters in there that it is ultimately that.
"As far as the show goes, I just want to make sure that the character and the books are done justice in live action, because I'm always of the mind that if it's not broken, don't try and fix it.
"And I don't think they're broken, and I absolutely love those books. For me, that's my focus."
Whether they liked the way the show was going or not, most viewers could at least agree that Henry Cavill's performance as Geralt was excellent.
It certainly looks like Hemsworth has some pretty big boots to fill.