MOVIE NEWS – A petition is demanding that Netflix bring Henry Cavill back to The Witcher is fast approaching 65,000 signatures.

“Henry Cavill Is The Witcher.” That’s how Netflix initially advertised the actor’s debut in the series in 2019. Many fans still think so, even though Cavill’s time in the role is over. As any disillusioned movie or series fan does these days, they’ve started a petition. They aim to ‘force’ Netflix to bring the Superman star back into the role he left (supposedly of his own volition).

The Change.org petition had gathered more than 25,000 signatures by midnight on Wednesday, and in the next few hours, the number doubled, quickly approaching 65,000 at the time of writing. The petition reads:

“Andrzej Sapkowski himself said about Henry Cavill: “I was more than happy with Henry Cavill’s appearance as The Witcher, he’s a real professional. Just as Viggo Mortensen gave his face to Aragorn, so Henry gave his to Geralt and it shall be forever so.”

“Henry isn’t leaving The Witcher because of Superman, Netflix executives have once again made a grave decision against delivering for their fans. 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.”

“Let us show them in pure numbers (and thus lost money, because that’s all they really care about) that none of us Witcher fans will stand with them and will abandon the show (and potentially our subscriptions) after The Witcher season 3 is concluded. Netflix can only exist because all of us pay them monthly to produce content that is entertaining for us, unfortunately all public information points towards a production team making decisions that are completely opposite to the fans’ – our – interests.”

Did the producers drive Henry Cavill away from The Witcher?

The Witcher immediately gained a massive fanbase on Netflix, which has only grown with the second season and several spin-offs. When Cavill announced at the end of October that he would leave his role of Geralt of Rivia after the third season to be taken over by Liam Hemsworth, fans were outraged. Cavill had previously talked about The Witcher being a seven-year project, which he was happy to be a part of at the time. So no one was prepared for the shocking news that he was leaving the role of Geralt.

Since the announcement, there have been rumours that Cavill, a big fan of the source material, was unhappy with some of the changes to the story and characters in the series.

While those unfamiliar with the novels and the video game series would be none the wiser, it seems that Cavill had a falling out with the show’s producers even before filming season three began. It has not yet been confirmed whether this ultimately led to Cavill’s departure from the series. The petition supporters certainly believe that Netflix should have done more to retain its star.

Source: Change.org