The Witcher Season 3 marked the end of Henry Cavill’s tenure on the Netflix series, to much controversy. While the actor has been mum about his departure from the show, one of the directors believes that the workload has led the actor to depart from the hit TV series.
In an interview with Screen Rant, director Marc Jobst addressed Cavill’s exit after season three. The director believes that the series has taken its toll on the actor. Jobst explained that making a series like The Witcher is very demanding on its actors, especially someone like Cavill who does his own stunts.
“Look, Henry has done three series, these are demanding shows to make, you know, they are huge. Henry does every single beat of his stunts, he won’t even allow a hand, if you’re doing a close-up of a hand grabbing a sword, it has to be his hand.” Jobst shared.
“So, normally, what you do is you bring in a double, Henry will go off and shoot some other scene in which he’s in somewhere else, and you get somebody else into the hand, so that you don’t have to bother your number one.”
“Henry won’t do that, and as a result of that, the results are extraordinary. You’re working with an incredible athlete, first and foremost, who works out hours before, and hours after, you’ve been shooting for 12 hours, and who cares deeply about the work that he does.”
Jobst also shared that Cavill worked really hard to perfect the sword-fighting sequences in the series. According to the director, Cavill rehearsed one fight sequence in season one for four weeks with the camera operator to make sure that he could land a hit without the need to make a cut in filming.
He adds, “That’s draining on your number one, so after three series, I feel, ‘Okay, he’s brought the show into being, and if he feels like he’s done what he can, I trust him.’ That focus that he has, that desire to get it right, is a gift to work with, because it elevates everybody to say, ‘Good enough isn’t good enough. It’s got to be fantastic.”
The showrunners for The Witcher have a lot of work to do to revive the series, as Season 3 had some of the worst audience ratings for the franchise on Rotten Tomatoes, sitting at a paltry 19%. Many fans have lamented Cavill’s departure as a reason for the lower ratings while others think that the series did a poor job of adapting the source material.
One of the producers shared that they have already come up with a plan to introduce Liam Hemsworth as the new Geralt of Rivia. It’s safe to say that Hemsworth’s integration into the show will make or break season four. Hopefully, whatever the showrunners have come up with connects with the audiences.
