The Witcher fans threaten to boycott show following Henry Cavill's exit

Fans of Netflix’s The Witcher are threatening to boycott the show’s fourth season, after it emerged that the fantasy series will be moving forward without Henry Cavill as the lead.

Over the weekend, Netflix announced that The Witcher has been renewed for a fourth season. However, it also revealed that Henry Cavill, who plays Geralt of Rivia, is stepping away from the role. His replacement? Liam Hemsworth.

“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 four,” Cavill wrote in a post on Instagram.

“In my stead, the fantastic Mr Liam Hemsworth will be taking up the mantle of the White Wolf. As with the greatest of literary characters, 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.”

While Liam Hemsworth is a fine actor who will undoubtedly do a great job, he suffers from the unfortunate disadvantage of not being internet darling and perpetual nerd thirst trap Henry Cavill. It was unsurprising, then, that the internet soon erupted in an explosion of protest again the Geralt recasting.

“Boycott The Witcher bring Henry back,” one person wrote on social media. “The f***!!! DON’T REPLACE HENRY CAVILL! HE IS GERALT! HE KNOWS HIS CHARACTER MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE!” another added.“DON,T REPLACE HIM WITH LIAM HEMSWORTH. THIS IS RIDICULOUS! I will so boycott The Witcher if they really replace him. How can you replace him?”

“Alright we boycott The Witcher,” a third wrote. “Actually so livid.”

Cavill will be back as the monster hunter for The Witcher’s third season next year. It remains unclear how the show will handle the transition from Cavill to Hemsworth, although I’d imagine they probably just won’t mention it and kind of hope people go along with it.

While Hemsworth clearly has a lot of work to do to convince people he’s a good choice for the role, I wouldn’t worry too much about the fans threatening to boycott season four. We all know everyone is tuning into the first episode to see how Hemsworth does, right? Right.