The Witcher fandom collectively gasped in October when it was announced that leading man Henry Cavill would be leave the Netflix series after the third season, with Liam Hemsworth set to take over as Geralt of Rivia.
There has been speculation online about why Cavill left, such as the show deviating from Andrzej Sapkowski's original story, but nothing has been confirmed or denied by the actor yet.
Showrunner Lauren Hissrich has spoken out about the Man of Steel actor's departure and said she understood that fans were upset by the news, but she encouraged them to continue to watch the TV adaptations including the new prequel, The Witcher: Blood Origin.
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"It's a big deal for us, too. And that's the thing – there's a lot of talk and rumours about and we fully understand why fans are going there," she told TechRadar.
"What I will say is please come back for The Witcher season 3 so that we can continue to do this. Obviously, that [Cavill's departure] is huge news. But what I don't want to do is – this has to stay about Blood Origin, Declan [de Barra, the Blood Origin showrunner], the cast, and the crew. This is their time in the spotlight."
Jaskier actor Joey Batey (who is coming back in Blood Origin) recently responded to the news about his co-star leaving in an exclusive interview with Digital Spy, and emphasised how much the cast will miss Cavill.
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He said: "[Cavill’s departure is] sad. Henry and I are quite close. I knew a little bit before everyone else, really. But to be honest, the whole cast is just going: 'We’re all going to miss him.'
"He’s worked so hard, and particularly on season 3. We just wrapped [filming] on season three a couple of months ago. And the man is the hardest-working man in all of Hollywood."
The Witcher seasons 1-2 are now streaming on Netflix. Season 3 is in production, and spin-off The Witcher: Blood Origin premieres on December 25, also on Netflix.
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.
