After Henry Cavill Exits Series Allegedly Over Issues With Canon, Netflix’s ‘The Witcher’ Showrunner Lauren Hissrich Claims Upcoming Third Season “Is The Closest Thing That We’ve Done As A One-To-One Adaptation Of The Books”

A confused Geralt (Henry Cavill) questions Jaskier's (Joey Batey) actions in 'The Witcher' (2021). Netflix
A confused Geralt (Henry Cavill) questions Jaskier's (Joey Batey) actions in The Witcher Season 2 Episode 7 “Voleth Meir” (2021) via Netflix

Still hoping to save face with fans of Netflix’s The Witcher following the exit of star Henry Cavill – a decision allegedly based on the actor’s dissatisfaction with the series’ treatment of Andrej Sapkowski’s original stories – showrunner Lauren Hissrich has claimed that the series’ upcoming third season will be “the closest thing that we’ve done as a one-to-one adaptation of the books.”

Geralt (Henry Cavill) calms Roach in The Witcher Season 1 Episode 6 "Rare Species" (2019) via Netflix

Geralt (Henry Cavill) calms Roach in The Witcher Season 1 Episode 6 “Rare Species” (2019) via Netflix

RELATED: Henry Cavill Smear Campaign Claims Actor Was Removed From ‘The Witcher’ Because Female Netflix Staff Found His Pushes For Source Material Accuracy To Be “Disrespectful And Toxic”

Hissrich, who previously boasted that she was “the strong independent woman you’re looking to blame” for the The Witcher’s source-material-breaking second season, made her claim during a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly.

Geralt (Henry Cavill) draws his steel sword in The Witcher Season 1 Episode 4 “Of Banquets, Bastards, and Burials” (2019), Netflix

Geralt (Henry Cavill) draws his steel sword in The Witcher Season 1 Episode 4 “Of Banquets, Bastards, and Burials” (2019), Netflix

Speaking specifically to Cavill’s sudden but unsurprising exit, Hissrich told the outlet, “Henry has given so much to the show and so we want to honor that appropriately” before lamenting how The Witcher’s third season would be his last, particularly because “What is so interesting is that season 3, to me, is the closest thing that we’ve done as a one-to-one adaptation of the books.”

“Obviously, we can’t do every page, but Time of Contempt gave us so many big action events, plot points, defining character moments, huge reveals of a big bad,” she added. “There’s so much to do that we were able to stick really, really closely with the books.”

Geralt (Henry Cavill) meets a possessed Ciri (Freya Allan) in battle in The Witcher Season 2 Episode 8 "Family" (2021) via Netflix

Geralt (Henry Cavill) meets a possessed Ciri (Freya Allan) in The Witcher Season 2 Episode 8 “Family” (2021) via Netflix

RELATED: Netflix’s ‘The Witcher’ Showrunner Lauren Hissrich Attempts To Inspire Confidence In The Series Following Henry Cavill’s Exit

Speaking further to how they wanted to honor Cavill’s time in the role, Hissrich explained, “Geralt’s big turn is about giving up neutrality and doing anything that he has to do to get to Ciri. And to me, it’s the most heroic sendoff that we could have, even though it wasn’t written to be that.”

“Geralt has a new mission in mind when we come back to him in season 4,” said the showrunner. “He’s a slightly different Geralt than we expected. Now, by the way, that’s an understatement.”

Geralt (Henry Cavill) bids farewell to Yarpen Zigrin (Jeremy Crawford) in The Witcher Season 2 Episode 7 “Voleth Meir” (2021) via Netflix

Geralt (Henry Cavill) bids farewell to Yarpen Zigrin (Jeremy Crawford) in The Witcher Season 2 Episode 7 “Voleth Meir” (2021) via Netflix

Pressed by EW as to whether or not The Witcher production team had considered keeping Cavill on either as a producer or in a different role, Hissrich admitted, “We haven’t even thought about that at this point.”

“We have plans to keep this going in various permutations,” she continued, making reference to such The Witcher spin-offs as the Blood Origin and the upcoming anime production Nightmare of the Wolf. “I love the mothership, I’m going to stick to it, but obviously we have Blood Origin coming out.”

Sophia Brown as Éile in The Witcher: Blood Origin (2022) via Netflix

Sophia Brown as Ciri’s ancestor Éile in The Witcher: Blood Origin (2022) via Netflix

RELATED: Netflix’s ‘The Witcher: Blood Origin’ Executive Producer Lauren Hissrich Reveals Prequel Series To Introduce Black Elf As Ciri’s Ancestor

“I hope that this doesn’t end for a while,” the showrunner ultimately concluded. “So I think the possibilities are endless, and we’ll see what happens.”

Unfortunately for Hissrich, the current direction of the franchise may put a limitation on just how many screen projects she’ll get to play with in The Witcher universe.

Geralt (Henry Cavill) and Ciri (Ferya Allan) take an inventory of their equipment in The Witcher Season 2 Episode 2 “Kaer Morhen” (2021) via Netflix

Geralt (Henry Cavill) and Ciri (Ferya Allan) take an inventory of their equipment in The Witcher Season 2 Episode 2 “Kaer Morhen” (2021) via Netflix

Not only has the series lost a large swath of its fanbase who were only along for the ride because of Cavill, but the aforementioned prequel series Blood Origin is currently finding no favor among mainstream media critics.

As of writing, the film currently holds a 37% ‘Rotten’ rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with only 7 of its currently published 19 reviews giving it a positive recommendation.

The current scores for 'The Witcher: Blood Origin' as of December 22nd, Rotten Tomatoes

The current scores for ‘The Witcher: Blood Origin’ as of December 22nd, Rotten Tomatoes

The third season of The Witcher is currently on track to hit Netflix sometime in Summer 2023.

Meanwhile, The Witcher: Blood Origin will premiere on Christmas Day.

Michelle Yeoh as Scian in The Witcher: Blood Origin (2022) via Netflix

Michelle Yeoh as Scian in The Witcher: Blood Origin (2022) via Netflix

NEXT: ‘X-Men ’97’ Head Writer Beau DeMayo Recalls Some Writers On Netflix’s ‘The Witcher’ “Actively Mocked The Sourced Materials”, Says This Mindset “Is A Recipe For Disaster And Bad Morale”

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