A few years ago, HBO managed to become the biggest platform of all thanks to Game of Thrones, a series that achieved an audience unparalleled in the history of television. With each new season of Game of Thrones, the records increased, and soon the competition wanted to get their own fantasy series.
Amazon Prime Video did it twice with The Wheel of Time and the recent The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. And Netflix played it safe with an IP that was already making it big in video games and had already proven to be a classic of fantasy literature: The Witcher. With Henry Cavill at the helm, nothing could go wrong… and they prepared to launch the series.
Now, with the third season just released, the picture seems to be very different. Amazon has not achieved the big hits it had hoped for. And Netflix has bet a lot on The Witcher, but although the first season worked relatively well, the second one declined and the third season’s numbers have been much lower. In addition, from the beginning there has been a lot of controversy with the way the series has been adapted: already in the first season they warned that they were getting quite far from Andrzej Sapkowski’s work, and in the following ones this has been evidenced.
The result of all this? Henry Cavill, the biggest fan of Sapkowski’s work and the most dedicated Geralt of Rivia they could have, has ended up leaving the series. The actor was famous for constantly giving creative notes, knowing from P to Pa all the author’s work and wanting to respect his vision as much as possible. But time and time again he was hitting against the writers of the series… until he couldn’t take it anymore and ended up leaving it.
Is The Witcher finale coming to Netflix?
To make matters worse, Netflix did not look for a solution to the use, and believed that replacing the lead actor was enough. And who did they put in place of Henry Cavill? None other than Liam Hermsworth. Maybe as an actor he didn’t say much, but we are talking about a man hated everywhere this year after the release of Flowers, the Miley Cyrus song dedicated directly to him. It’s like Gerard Pique being offered the role of Batman after Shakira’s song.
Between the love for Cavill -who said goodbye to the character in tears in a video that shrunk the hearts of fans-, the previous hatred for Hermsworth and the bad audience of the third season, it is clear that a fourth season does not seem to be the best idea. It’s a shame, of course, because there are still several books of the saga to adapt and even, as we know from the video games, they could extend it much further. However, it is the right thing to do if we take into account that, beyond all these problems, a new one has been added: the strike of screenwriters and actors.
All of Hollywood is currently at a standstill. Since May, when the WGA began demonstrating for better conditions for writers, no new series, movies or seasons are being developed. And now no filming or promotion of anything made is possible either, since the actors have joined the cause. Thus, Netflix has had no choice but to announce that season 4 of The Witcher – among other series – has been suspended indefinitely. And production will not resume until the situation is clarified.
But is it just because of the strike or did they take advantage of this excuse to cancel The Witcher? While it was being one of the platform’s flagships, it has become clear that Netflix has not known how to do things right with this IP. And, before spending a new millionaire on a product that will not work for sure, it is clear that it seems time to pick up cable and cancel in time.
If the series ends, we will be left with three seasons with their ups and downs that, at the very least, have managed to transfer part of Sapkowski’s spirit to the small screen. But this seems to be a much better idea than continuing with a new season with a different face and screenwriters who have already proven not to be up to the task. Be that as it may, Netflix seems to have missed a golden opportunity with a brand that already had fans of its own.
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