Petition to keep Henry Cavill in The Witcher soars past 160,000 signatures

It’s been over a week since Henry Cavill announced his departure from Netflix’s The Witcher, but it doesn’t look as if the dust is going to settle anytime soon when it comes to the dismay of fans. In case you missed it, the upcoming third season of The Witcher will be Cavill’s last. Liam Hemsworth will then take over as Geralt of Rivera in season four.

Cavill hasn’t said exactly why he’s chosen to leave the show. Initially, many assumed it may be to focus on his role as Superman in the DCEU but Cavill has said in the past that he could balance this alongside The Witcher. It’s more likely linked to Cavill’s disapproval of the direction the show has taken, departing from the books, with some producers reportedly even mocking Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels.

Check out this incredible The Witcher inspired pyrography art.

In the days following the news, fans put together a petition on change.org, asking Netflix to rehire Cavill and fire the show’s writers. At the time of reporting on the initial creation of the petition, it had just under 3,000 signatures but that number has grown exponentially. Now, the petition has a whopping 168,000 signatures.

This number will keep growing. If you spend even just 10 seconds on the web page of the petition, you’ll see the number rise. Fans aren’t happy - and they want Netflix to know how they feel. Fan petitions can be pretty powerful things. Brooklyn 99 springs to mind. The show was saved purely thanks to the power of fans after it was initially cancelled.

Cavill reportedly wanted to exit following the conclusion of season two but was talked into staying on after renegotiating his salary. If you take a look at season two’s press tour, Cavill mentions how he fought for book accuracy a lot. His reason for leaving may not be as secret as he thinks it is.