The Witcher: Blood Origin’s Terrible Reviews Are Henry Cavill’s Fault?
Henry Cavill fans might be responsible for review bombing The Witcher: Blood Origin.
For the most part, Henry Cavill has captivated fans in everything from Man of Steel to The Witcher. Those fans haven’t hesitated to express their disappointment at Cavill exiting both the Witcher franchise and the DCU in short succession. Now, the prequel series The Witcher: Blood Origin has garnered a terrible 10% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, and it looks like the score is so low because it is being review bombed by fans angry that Cavill will no longer be starring as Geralt after the third season of the show.
Of course, the most annoying thing about a movie or TV show getting review bombed is that it is difficult to prove this is what happened. For example, it’s difficult to separate trolls giving the show the lowest possible rating from fans who were genuinely disappointed in Henry Cavill and the rest of The Witcher cast and crew. However, it seems clear this particular show is being review bombed because the audience score is so much lower than the “Tomatometer” rating of 33%.
That higher rating is meant to be something of a critical consensus among professional film reviewers, and it is certainly low enough to indicate that critics were unimpressed with this latest Henry Cavill outing as The Witcher’s Geralt. Sometimes, audience ratings are higher than critical ratings and showcase the broad appeal of these movies and TV shows (the original Venom had a lower critical score than The Witcher: Blood Origin, but its high audience score of 81 percent helped that movie get a sequel due to immense fan support). Other times, audience ratings are much lower, and review bombing may occur due to controversies surrounding either the production or the main star.
One of the more recent examples of this was Captain Marvel, the ambitious movie that helped bring Carol Danvers to the MCU. That movie has a decent 79% on the Tomatometer but a very low audience score of 45%, largely due to it being review bombed by angry fans. Many of those fans were angry about comments that Brie Larson made before the movie’s premiere about not caring what white male critics have to say, but those review bombing The Witcher: Blood Origin seem angrier at Netflix than they are at Henry Cavill.
Most of the angriest comments (there are over 2,500 audience scores) focused on how Henry Cavill was the perfect actor to bring The Witcher franchise to life and that Netflix dropped the ball by letting him go. And this goes with the general narrative that Cavill split with Netflix over creative differences, with him wanting to be more faithful to the original stories and games. However, there are darker rumors that Cavill became a toxic presence on set that was impossible to work for, so he got the boot in favor of Liam Hemsworth taking over the role.
Regardless of why Henry Cavill departed The Witcher franchise, there is a certain irony in his superfans review bombing his latest show. These fans may think they are giving Netflix a piece of their mind, but they may be showing studios and directors that Cavill is less of a charismatic draw than he once was. This could ultimately affect the actor’s future, especially since he won’t be stepping back into Superman’s red boots in the DCU.
