Henry Cavill No Longer Has Netflix’s Most Popular Show
Henry Cavill has been dethroned from having Netflix's most popular show.
This article is more than 2 years old
Henry Cavill’s performance in Netflix’s fantasy series The Witcher turned heads and earned him millions of new fans. He was bold, confident, and corded with muscle and sex appeal. What’s not to love? Nothing, but that didn’t stop an insanely popular new show from blowing The Witcher out of the water and sinking it to “Second Biggest Netflix Show Ever” status.
According to Deadline, Netflix’s new romance series Bridgerton has now beaten out Henry Cavill and The Witcher and claimed the top spot on the streamer’s list of biggest series ever. A staggering number of households (82 million worldwide) have tuned in to the acclaimed first season of the show since its premiere in December 2020. That’s crazy.
Based on Julia Quinn’s best-selling novels, Bridgerton follows the Bridgerton family during the Regency era of London. Netflix’s television adaptation has already been renewed for a second season, and in record time, too. If you thought the numbers for the first three seasons of Stranger Things were ridiculous (which they totally were at the time), then this news probably blew you away. I know it did the same for me.
The Witcher, which premiered back in December 2019, held on to the top spot for over a year, but in the end the Henry Cavill-led fantasy series fell to the seductive might of 19th century romance. Can’t say I blame viewers, either. The Witcher is a fair amount of fun, but it does not appear to be as enjoyable or memorable as Bridgerton. And the numbers Bridgerton is currently generating absolutely reflect that disparity in quality.
Of the show’s success, its creator, Chris Van Dusen, said, “Bridgerton is this lavish, vibrant, steamy Regency love story; it is about romance, love, and joy; I think all of those things are really universal themes people are responding to.” He’s absolutely right, and with the pandemic still impacting the world, an escape to the world of Bridgerton seems like a powerfully effective antidote.
It is difficult to deny that Van Dusen’s adaptation has resonated with viewers, even without knowing or caring about the impressive numbers the show is pulling. From a word of mouth standpoint, reception to the series has been overwhelmingly positive, which usually means the people recommending it to you have undoubtedly told others about it, too.
In terms of Henry Cavill’s recent and upcoming roles, you can catch him in 2018’s Mission Impossible: Fallout, as well as in the playful Netflix movie Enola Holmes, and, of course, the recently announced, heavily hyped Snyder Cut of Justice League. In The Witcher, he portrays Geralt of Rivia, a troubled warrior with zero tolerance for demons and bad people but an appetite for intense swordplay. It is a reasonably entertaining series, and it will probably find surer footing when the next season finally rolls around.
Who knows, though? Maybe the upcoming second season of The Witcher will surpass this season of Bridgerton and put Henry Cavill back on top. By the time its sophomore season finally decides to hit Netflix, it will have been two years since the release of the first season. That is a fairly long wait, one that has undoubtedly driven fans of the identically titled games and book series completely mad. Regardless of how long we have had to wait, though, The Witcher‘s possible triumph over Bridgerton will probably be short-lived, especially with that aforementioned second season of the popular romance already on the way. Given that Bridgerton‘s second season was just announced last week, it might be a bit before we hear anything else.
Hopefully, the ongoing pandemic doesn’t delay Henry Cavill’s The Witcher and make fans wait any longer for more Geralt. Personally, I’m not crazy about the series but I am intrigued by how the showrunners left us hanging and what that means for the story and its characters going forward. Guess we will have to wait and see! No release date has been set yet, but as we move into the coming months, we will probably catch wind of something more concrete. Keep your eyes peeled!
What are your thoughts on these latest numbers? Do you enjoy Bridgerton at all, or are you intentionally missing the hype train for this one? Let us know and stay tuned for any and all updates that may come our way!
