If you’re curious about why The Witcher has become less enjoyable since its first season, even though Henry Cavill is still part of it, it might be because some important people involved in the show might have unrealistic ideas.
The producer, Tomek Bagiński, talked to a Polish news outlet called Wyborcza about Henry Cavill potentially leaving The Witcher. He once again mentioned that different actors portray famous characters in various ways as time goes on. This time, he’s suggesting that The Witcher has achieved a new level of fame:
“I’m really happy that the series was made and became so popular,” he said. “According to me, The Witcher is now on the same level as Batman, Superman, and James Bond. Maybe we expected to see a new version of it only after a few years, but it’s happening now. And this isn’t uncommon for legendary characters in pop culture.”
Listen, The Witcher has a bunch of fans who enjoy the games, books, and TV show. But to claim that Geralt of Rivia, especially because of the Netflix series, has reached the same status as Superman, Batman, and James Bond is pretty funny. These characters are legendary figures with long histories in comics or movies. Finding a fantasy character that matches up is tough. Aragorn? Nope. Daenerys Targaryen? Still not quite. Well, maybe Harry Potter, I suppose. Plus, none of those characters have ever been played by different actors.
This is part of Bagiński’s way of explaining why it’s okay to switch actors for Geralt, by comparing it to James Bond, Doctor Who, or Spider-Man. Now it seems we’re adding Superman and Batman to that comparison, suggesting they’re on the same level as Geralt. Yeah, right.
This notion didn’t make sense when he initially mentioned it, and it still doesn’t add up. Most of the characters he’s talking about experience different “periods” in their movie or TV versions. When you change the actor for Batman, you’re basically creating a whole new world for Batman. Keaton, Clooney, Bale, Affleck, and Pattinson all exist in completely different universes, unless you dive into complicated multiverse concepts. And if you want to understand the challenges of starting a new phase for Superman, just ask Cavill…
In The Witcher, they’re only changing Geralt by replacing Cavill. Everyone else, like Yennefer, Ciri, Triss, and Jaskier, will stay the same. The whole world and characters remain unchanged; they’re just swapping out Geralt for Liam Hemsworth for the last two seasons. It’s really not the same situation.
Once again, it seems like they’re trying to hide a mistake. Interestingly, Bagiński suggests there might be more to Cavill’s departure than we know, but he doesn’t give details:
“I don’t want to talk about the reasons behind this decision, because I found out about many things later.”
I think there’s probably a bigger story here than just “Cavill didn’t like how the show followed the books,” but who knows when we’ll get the full picture. For now, please, let’s stop making these silly comparisons.
Source: Forbes
