It’s Time to Stop Defending Netflix’s Witcher

The Witcher Show Gets Worse, Somehow - Henry Cavill Quits

0:00 Henry Cavill escapes a sinking, Witcher-themed ship
0:49 so, why did Henry REALLY leave?
2:31 this show's problems go much deeper
3:53 a sad situation
5:18 what does this mean for Season 3?
5:49 halfway there!

(I've made The Witcher 2 analysis available there)

The Witcher content will be posted on this channel on a weekly basis, sometimes more frequently!

[capoever]

This is how you know he was unhappy with the writing: he walked away from 1 million dollars per episode. Guy really cares about the source material. And I don't blame him

[Es-ang]

Imagine starring in the adaptation of your favourite book and you get the worst time working others who hate it and can't appreciate the full story, it's honestly tragic 😭

[jonatankapral]

I am sad but glad at the same time. We need more actors like Henry to stand up so the show writers realise that if they are adapting bestsellers, they are bestsellers for a reason and should not be meddled with. If I say "I love apple" I want apple not an orange because someone said "It is based on apple because it is round".

[JohnDoe-gtjr]

How can you mess this up? You have someone, THE VERY LEAD ACTOR, NO LESS, who genuinely knows and cares about what the series you're basing it off of. And yet Netflix still finds a way to screw it up. They couldn't even keep Henry for half of the seasons that they initially promised.

[rajder]

On the positive side i found new respect for him. He loves the books so much that he gave up his passion project because people making it were disrespecting it. Hope one day there will be writers that will respect it and he will reprise the role once again

[Sinrne]

Everyone can appreciate Henry for this. If you fight for things you love but get nothing back, its time to move on. Respect.

[dinkumdanno]

This whole thing is devastating. They find the perfect actor for the role, one who truly loves the franchise, and they lazily push him away by trying to do their own thing. I'm glad he stuck to his guns and bailed though. They'll realize how badly they messed up sooner or later.

[brocktarlton]

Hollywood needs to understand what Japanese media always understood: When a written story stands out and develops a loyal fan base, it’s because the story is already great. Don’t change anything, just put it into tv/movie form. That’s all.

[SezarOroo]

We live in an age where writers take the source of their works, spit on it and are mad when fans don't want to see it.

[MarkHogan]

Yeah, I'm 100% sure there's more to the story. Henry fought like hell for this role, and seemed to care more about it than any other. He also said he'd make time for both Superman and Witcher, and that he was committed to 7 seasons. There's no way he's leaving because of Superman, especially since those movies would only require a few months of shooting every 2-3 years. He's leaving because he's unhappy with the direction of the show. It was already obvious during the Season 2 press tour that he had some issues with the show.

[AmViR]

We all know he did not leave because of his busy schedule, He left because they did not stick to the books. I thank you for clearing that to all the fans.

[lbow]

I'm not even the sort of person who is against adaptations changing things on principle, but the stuff that came out of the Netflix Witcher's writer's room never failed to be completely baffling. Just bad choice after bad choice, executed with full confidence. I'm gutted that Henry is leaving, but I'm impressed by his integrity. That's a real fan right there.

[kellytamia]

Honestly i feel so bad for henry, i remember hearing how ecstatic he was to play as geralt since it was one of his favorite characters. This is so unfortunate how things went out.

[charlespc]

I'm glad he left, he doesn't want to take part in a soulless series.

Beautiful video partner!

[devilishnessx]

Massive respect for Henry Cavill. His tweet "My journey as Geralt of Rivia has been filled with both monsters and adventures..." <--- the monsters could be referring to the writers butchering the TV show.

[ImVeryOriginal]

THANK YOU. As a fan of the books who read them 4-5 times in the original Polish, I was infuriated and severely disappointed with Netflix's adaptation. The disdain and lack of understanding of the source material from the writers was palpable. They weren't even writing fanfiction, they were writing their own, much more simpleminded fantasy show that fed on the original story from the inside and slowly emerged from its dead carcass.

Ciri and Geralt's beautiful relationship when she was a child - gone. Geralt and Jaskier's friendship as a meeting of equal minds with different perspectives - nah, they're Shrek and Donkey. Cahir and Fringilla's ambiguous morality and shifting loyalties - sorry, they're moustache-twirling religious fanatics now. There's so much wrong with how they treated the worldbuilding, the themes, the characters - it's mind-boggling. It's not that I wanted a perfect copycat adaptation (in fact, I think that wouldn't work at all either!), it's that they actively sabotaged the aspects of the stories that made the original so good.

The comparison I always give to people who haven't read the books is imagine if Game of Thrones was like Season 8 from the start. That's how bad it is. Perhaps it's a watchable, fun show from a non-reader's perspective, but once you appreciate the books, it's undeniable how much of a missed opportunity this was.

[cezero]

I couldn't agree more, my friend. I'm assuming season 3 will be worse, since he announced his departure basically as soon as they were done shooting it. He was amazing as Geralt and did the best he could with the garbage the writers gave him.

[harrycunliffe]

Mad respect to Henry. Stuck to his guns and was the best man for the job

[alostlandroid]

I remember seeing an interview where the questioner asked Henry something along the lines of, "It is rumored you can be a bit of a know it all on set and difficult to work with." After his answer, I was like, "I bet he is the only person on set who loves the books/games." Most of the promotional stuff involves Anya as well as Henry and while she is a great actress in my opinion you can tell she had no idea what it was or any love for it beforehand. It is shameful waste of potential, hollywood needs to learn the importance of good writers.

[wiselittleknitter]

I'm upset about the recasting, however I'm super proud of Henry for leaving the show because of his morals and values. I'm also super excited for the books and I'm currently reading them. I got sooo upset with Season 2 I was ranting about it for MONTHS after I watched it. It still upsets me how much they're changing the characters and storyline. I'm interested to see what they'll do with it, but I'm upset because I don't know what the show will become. I can always reread the books and play the games though. :)