- - Why Did Henry Cavill Leave “The Witcher”? What We Know About His Shocking Exit

Kelsey LentzOctober 30, 2025 at 6:48 PM

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Katalin Vermes/Netflix

Henry Cavill in 'The Witcher'

The Witcher is gearing up for its first season without its leading man, Henry Cavill.

The Enola Holmes actor portrayed Geralt of Rivia for the first three seasons of the Netflix fantasy series, which premiered in December 2019 and is based on Andrzej Sapkowski’s best-selling book series of the same name.

Cavill shocked fans when he announced his departure on Instagram in October 2022 and revealed that Liam Hemsworth would be replacing him as Geralt.

“My journey as Geralt of Rivia has been filled with both monsters and adventures, and alas, I will be laying down my medallion and my swords for Season 4,” he wrote. “I pass the torch with reverence for the time spent embodying Geralt and enthusiasm to see Liam's take on this most fascinating and nuanced of men.”

His third and final season premiered in June 2023, and now, after a two-year wait, the hit show is back for season 4 — Hemsworth’s first as the beloved monster slayer.

So why did Henry Cavill leave The Witcher? Here's everything to know about his exit and what he’s been up to since.

Why did Henry Cavill leave The Witcher?

Katalin Vermes/Netflix

Henry Cavill and Anya Chalotra in 'The Witcher'

Cavill has yet to speak publicly about his decision to leave the show, but showrunner Lauren Hissrich told Entertainment Weekly in September 2025 that “conversations" about his departure had been going on “for a while."

“He had plans for other roles that he really wanted to commit himself to," she explained, adding, "And for us, you don't want to hold someone and force them to be doing something that they don't want to do. I think that's why it felt like a really symbiotic decision."

Many fans have speculated that his exit was connected to his reprisal of Superman. Cavill portrayed the iconic hero in several DC Studios films, including 2013’s Man of Steel and 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

He publicly announced that he was reprising his role just a few days before sharing his Witcher news. However, after a leadership overhaul at the studio, DC later announced that it had decided to move in a different direction with the character for the 2025 film Superman.

Who is replacing Henry Cavill?

Netflix

Liam Hemsworth in 'The Witcher'

Liam Hemsworth will star as Geralt in the final two seasons of the show. The actor broke his silence on the casting news — and the "noise" that came with it — in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

"There was quite a bit of noise and I had to put that aside. It started to become a distraction," he said. "I dealt with that sort of thing in the past a lot and, you know, at the end of the day, I love making movies and I love telling stories and acting."

He continued, "I just don't want any of that to affect my way of telling the story that I'm trying to tell. I jumped off social media and the internet most of last year."

As it turns out, The Hunger Games star was just as surprised as fans when he heard about Cavill’s departure and learned that he was up for the part.

“I was on set of shooting a film called Land of Bad, this is at the end of 2022, and my agent just asked me, said, ‘You know, this one's kind of come out of nowhere, but how do you feel about stepping on as The Witcher?’ ” Hemsworth recalled during an October 2025 interview with IGN. “I was shocked."

He was also “hesitant and unsure” about taking on the role at first, as he told Netflix’s Tudum. “It’s an odd thing to be asked to come in midway through a series like this and continue on as the lead character,” he said, comparing the experience to “starting high school halfway through and everyone’s already friends.”

“But, as a fan of the video game, I felt like I could do something cool with it,” he added.

Hemsworth was the first actor Hissrich spoke to when it came time to recast the role, and she instantly knew they had found their new Geralt.

“The very first time that I met with Liam Hemsworth, in my gut, I knew that he would make a perfect Geralt for us in Season 4,” she told Tudum. “He was able to be very honest with me about the things that really resonated with him in earlier seasons, and also some things he’d like to shift.”

What have Henry Cavill’s castmates said about his exit?

Dave J Hogan/Getty

Paul Bullion, Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, Freya Allan, Henry Cavill, Anya Chalotra and Joey Batey attend the World Premiere of "The Witcher: Season 2" at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on December 01, 2021

Chalotra and Allan spoke about Cavill’s exit for the first time publicly during a September 2025 interview with Entertainment Weekly.

"I cried," Chalotra recalled of the moment she heard the news. "I remember it so vividly. It really impacted me. We were so bonded to these people, and to lose such an important member of the team … it hurt."

“[The Witcher is] a big part of our lives, and any changes like that hold a lot of weight to them,” Allan chimed in.

"He was Geralt for Ciri for so long and that's sad to let that go," she continued, "but I was also really excited to see what Liam's done with the role."

How will the show address the casting shakeup?

Netflix

Liam Hemsworth in 'The Witcher'

While season 4 won’t explicitly address Geralt’s recasting, it will “honor that change,” as Chalotra explained to Entertainment Weekly.

"You've got two very different people leading the show, and we're so impacted by that energy," she said. “It brings in a new energy, too.”

Hemsworth’s Geralt will also be different both physically and personality-wise. “One of the things that we realized is that Geralt didn’t carry a lot of the scars that the character is known by,” Hissrich told Tudum. “So we made a definitive decision at the beginning of the season to start Liam with a scar across his face, and we even have an explanation of why it suddenly appears between two seasons.”

“His voice, his tone is slightly different, and he does have a little bit more humor … Liam loves to curse, and we’ve brought cursing back,” she continued.

Producer Tomasz Bagiński added that the new Geralt "smiles a bit more," possibly because he's "more emotional" now.

What is Henry Cavill doing now?

Alex Bailey/Legendary ©2020

Henry Cavill, Sam Claflin and Millie Bobby Brown in 'Enola Holmes' (2020).

In December 2022, Cavill announced that he is executive producing an upcoming Warhammer 40,000 adaptation for Amazon. He worked with his girlfriend, Natalie Viscuso of Vertigo Entertainment, to secure the rights to the popular video game franchise, which includes potential adaptations across television, film and more.

“For 30 years I have dreamt of seeing a Warhammer universe in live action. Now, after 22 years of experience in this industry, I finally feel that I have the skill set and experience to guide a Warhammer Cinematic Universe into life,” he wrote on Instagram. “Partnering with Natalie Viscuso at Vertigo has been a blessing beyond words, without her we might not have found the perfect home at Amazon.”

Since exiting The Witcher, Cavill has appeared in a handful of blockbuster movies, including Argylle, The Ministry of Ungentlemenly Warfare and Deadpool & Wolverine.

He is also set to star in Netflix’s Enola Holmes 3, Guy Ritchie’s In The Grey, a film adaptation of the romance novel The Rosie Project and ​​Highlander, Amazon MGM’s upcoming remake of the 1986 classic.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”