Viewership Tank For Season 3 Of The Witcher Netflix Series Post Henry Cavill

The Witcher Netflix Series is having a lousy time as viewership continues to drop. It might be easy to point toward Henry Cavill as the reason for this disappointing decline, but this is untrue. If you dig deeper into The Witcher on Netflix, you will discover many problems. Instead of looking at Henry Cavill’s departure as a reason for the decline, you can also argue the opposite. Henry Cavill was the only thing that kept a declining viewership base interested. This is not enough to save the show despite Henry Cavill being there.

Although some loyal fans will continue to watch a bad show if their favorite actor is there, in the long run, the show will suffer. The blame for the disappointment of viewership in The Witcher can mostly be placed at the feet of the writers, producers, and directors. We know this to be true because despite Henry Cavill in the series, reviews and ratings still plummet. If you go and read the comments and reviews from fans, you will find a comment denominator. Most fans believe the show is terrible, but they keep watching because of Cavill.

I realized this fact within myself as well. Before the announcement of the departure of Henry Cavill, I maintained the opinion that the series was good. However, I stopped watching when it was announced that Cavill would leave. I have not watched the third season, and I likely won’t. This made me realize that I never watched the show because of the story, despite thinking it was good. I just watched because of Henry Cavill, and now that he is gone, there is no reason to continue.

The Witcher Season 3 Viewership Drop

Whether you think the third season of The Witcher is good does not matter. Despite personal opinion, the decline in viewership cannot be ignored. In the US, 1.1 million people watched the first episode of the latest season. From this point onwards, it was nothing but downhill. The fifth episode of season 3 was only viewed by 505 thousand people; the entire season recorded 15.1 million viewers in the US. This will tell you that there is a sharp decline in the number of people interested in the show. In the spirit of fairness, there are a few things that we need to consider.

On Netflix, all episodes of a season are released at once. The Witcher released all five episodes of part one immediately. Only some have the time to watch every episode instantly. Some have work and only watch over the weekends when they have time. This means people might watch the first episode and wait a week before watching the second. While some might view that as a decline in viewership, it might not be accurate. Only time will tell to what extent the viewership dropped. However, despite this reason, we cannot ignore the fact that there is a decline.

The Witcher Season One broke a Netflix record. They recorded almost 80 million viewers in the first four weeks alone. That number today is even higher. Based on current trends, the third season will not come close to reaching those numbers. Although we may point to Henry Cavills departure as a reason for this, we know that is not true. Some people would prefer something else to the direction of the show.

The Witcher Netflix Series And Their Struggle With Source Material

For years now, fans have been unhappy with the show. Many feel that showrunners need to follow the source material more closely. How accurate the show is to the original work, I cannot answer as I have little knowledge of the books—however, those with knowledge claim that there is a significant deviation. Some feel that the show is not focused enough on The Witcher himself. Instead, they create many sub-characters and try to present them as leads. Although the books have many characters, it has always been accepted that the plot mainly focuses on two people.

The story follows a girl with the ability to shift dimensions. Due to these incredible gifts, a group called the wild hunt is after her as she holds the key to their complete domination over everything. A Witcher called Gerald is responsible for protecting her, but she decides to disappear as she does not want to hurt anybody. The story follows Gerald’s quest to find her and stop the wild hunt. That is the main plot in the games, and many expected that to be the series’ plot. How closely that aligns with the books, I cannot know.

There are also claims that showrunners do not respect the source material. One former writer claims that showrunners were disrespecting the books behind closed doors. I do not know if this is true, but I believe it. One thing that I will add is the fact that I am not against adding to the source material. There is always room to improve any piece of art. However, you must respect the original work to add to the source material.

The Impact Of Henry Cavills Departure

Henry Cavill’s departure from the show is still unknown. Although there is plenty of speculation, no one knows the valid reason. One thing we know for sure is the fact that Henry loved the Witcher books and games. He stated on numerous occasions what a big fan he was. When he heard that there would be a series on Netflix, he called the showrunners every day to get the job. He also took a massive pay cut. Although he still made millions, it was far from what an actor on his level usually makes. However, he accepted the pay cut because it was a passion project.

This project turned dark quickly when showrunners started deviating from the original work. It is reported that Cavill fought on many occasions to keep some scenes more aligned with the original work. He also publicly defended the fan base on many occasions. When fans were being called toxic for saying that the writers should stay true to the books, Cavill supported them. He stated nothing was toxic about wanting producers to remain faithful to something. Henry Cavill genuinely loves this series and all the characters.

I do not know why he decided to leave the show, but I know it is not for any positive reason. No one goes in the middle of a series unless it is awful. Although some speculated that it was due to DC obligations, that is unlikely. He accepted the role while he was Superman, so I am sure he factored that into his decision when he became The Witcher. Most agree that issues behind the scenes led to this departure. It is also clear that this decision likely came from Cavill and not the showrunners.

Conclusion

Irrespective of who is to blame, Henry Cavill will be missed. His departure from the show will significantly impact the series moving forward. No matter how suitable his replacement, Liam Hemsworth, is, fans likely will not accept him. For most, Henry Cavill is The Witcher; without him, there is no show. Despite this, the show will likely continue for a few more seasons. Even if the ratings decline, the series can fail upwards.