Is Henry Cavill back as The Witcher?

It’s been a complicated couple of years for Henry Cavill. He was Superman in the DC Extended Universe, then he was let go. He became the titular character on Netflix’s The Witcher, but then he left the show when the chance to reprise his role as Superman came about – not that that was ever confirmed as the exact reasoning. Then, DC decided to recast the character, and Cavill was left in no man’s land: halfway between a comic book hero and a fantasy antihero.

The back-and-forth between Cavill’s involvement with the DCEU and The Witcher has left some fans confused, and the confusion reached an apex when the trailer for the new season of the latter dropped. Cavill is featured prominently in the trailer, leading some to question whether Cavill had returned to the series. Is he back as Geralt of Rivia?

Will Henry Cavill be back for The Witcher season 4?

Sadly, the answer is no. Cavill has maintained his decision to leave the show, and the episodes featured in the trailer were shot before he left. The trailer also reveals that The Witcher season 3 will be broken up into two parts: Volume 1 (episodes 1-5) will be released globally on June 29, and Volume 2 (episodes 6-8) will follow suit on July 27.

While the Superman confusion was one of the reasons Cavill may have left, it wasn’t the only one. The actor voiced his frustration with the writers and producers of The Witcher, and their seeming lack of concern with staying faithful to the source material.

“I’m the most annoying guy on set because I’m saying, ‘Erm, excuse me, you do realize that this should be happening’ and ‘they wouldn’t do that’ and ‘you haven’t read this, then that means this would be impossible,’” Cavill told Collider. “And everyone’s just going, ‘Henry, just shut up and do the thing.’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t want to do the thing! Because he wouldn’t do it this way!’”

Cavill’s performance was one of the most praised aspects of The Witcher when it debuted, and the reaction to his exit has been uniformly negative. There has even been a fan petition asking that Netflix rehire the actor and fire the writing team who have seemingly taken the show in an unfaithful direction. The petition earned over 300,000 signatures.

Needless to say, Cavill’s replacement, Liam Hemsworth, has his work cut out for him. The actor was announced shortly after Cavill’s exit, and the initial response was mixed. Some felt that Hemsworth lacked the gravitas that his precedessor brought to the role, while others were more optimistic, and posited that a new Geralt would rejuvinate the show after a middling second season.

Those who swear by Cavill’s performance, though, will be getting a hell of a condolence prize: a brand new season of episodes. It’ll be strange to watch, knowing that he’s already gone, but at least it’ll help to smooth the transition from one era of the show to the other. It could have been a lot worse. Netflix could’ve reshot the season with Hemsworth, or gone for the same CGI nonsense that removed Cavill’s mustache in Justice League. I’d say we lucked out, all things considered.