The Witcher Season 5 Confirmed By Netflix
The Witcher has been renewed by Netflix for two more seasons.
According to The Verge, Netflix has already greenlit The Witcher for a fifth season. The show’s casting director Sophie Holland spoke to Deadline and indicated that they are gearing up to begin filming Season 4, and then there will be a “short gap” before they start up on Season 5. The news of a fifth season is surprising, considering the Henry Cavill-starring third season hasn’t even aired yet, and the new Liam Hemsworth fourth season has yet to be tested by fans.
Clearly, Netflix is bullish on the universe it’s building from The Witcher, but is this confidence warranted? Sure, Henry Cavill has been the absolute perfect Geralt of Rivia, but the show has often strayed from the beloved source material, and the plot has been fairly uneven. Although the second season left behind the twisty time-jumping of the first season, critics didn’t think the show fared all that much better.
It might be safe to say that the reason The Witcher is so popular is based almost solely on Henry Cavill’s performance. Cavill was a noted fan of the books and the games, and he clearly wanted to do justice to the character, which he did handily. However, Cavill will be leaving the show behind after this upcoming season.
The replacement for Cavill in the fourth season and the greenlit fifth season will be Liam Hemsworth. While Hemsworth certainly has the physicality and the acting chops for the role, will his name be enough to draw people in to see the show? Considering Cavill is the perfect Geralt, the show will likely need to improve dramatically if Netflix wants to keep audiences coming back to a show that replaced its lead man.
The Witcher has tested the waters with other spin-off shows without Henry Cavill, such as the animated film Nightmare of the Wolf and the Michelle Yeoh-led prequel series The Witcher: Blood Origin. Nightmare of the Wolf was well-liked by critics and fans alike and is probably more faithful to the universe than even the flagship show. However, Blood Origin was widely panned by critics, and not even the always-wonderful Michelle Yeoh could save it.
While Netflix does tend to be pretty savvy with its major franchises, it does seem to be taking its eye off the ball with The Witcher. The fans love the universe, but the lack of faith in the source material means that love might not be enough to keep the show popular. The shoddy writing and the lack of Cavill make it seem like Netflix’s grand plans for the franchise might be doomed.
Even if The Witcher doesn’t continue to bring in the same level of viewers after Cavill’s departure, at least fans can look forward to more games from the series in the future. CD Projekt Red, the developer of the game trilogy along with Cyberpunk: 2077, recently announced that they were developing the first game in a new trilogy and developing a remake of Witcher 1. In short, there is a lot more coming from this franchise in the future, and we can all only hope that it will be good.
