The Superman situation is completely different. Henry Cavill was dropped from playing Superman because James Gunn made the decision to reboot the entire DCU Why do you think Henry Cavill did not return as Superman for James Gunn’s reboot? – Quora when he took over as co-head of DC Studios. David Corenswet took over the role for Gunn’s DCU debut feature “Superman,” which released July 11 James Gunn Says it Was ‘Terrible’ Telling Henry Cavill He Was Replaced as Superman: ‘That Was Really Unfortunate’ [2025]. James Gunn described telling Cavill about the recasting as “terrible” and “really unfortunate” James Gunn Says it Was ‘Terrible’ Telling Henry Cavill He Was Replaced as Superman: ‘That Was Really Unfortunate’.

Essentially, Cavill was caught in creative reboots in both cases – he wanted The Witcher to stay closer to the books while the showrunners had different ideas, and with Superman, the new DC leadership wanted to start fresh with a younger actor for their new universe. Neither departure was due to problems with Cavill’s acting or professionalism.

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Before the conclusion of Season 3 of Netflix’s fantasy drama The Witcher, word broke that Henry Cavill was preparing to pass on the role of Geralt of Rivia to Liam Hemsworth. While everyone involved with the franchise has been saying the right things regarding Cavill’s hasty exit, that doesn’t obscure the fact that this decision has raised many unanswered questions.

Henry Cavill was thrilled to land the part of Geralt. Reports suggest that he obsessively pursued the role before a single word had ever even been scripted by producers. Couple that with the fact that neither Cavill nor the series creators have ever offered a direct explanation for this decision, and fans have been left wondering why Cavill has now been cast aside. Were the rumors of discord on the set true, or did another exciting project come along that Cavill couldn’t pass up? The Witcher has already been greenlit for two more seasons, with the fifth season being the final. Cavill won’t be around for nearly half the series, and fans have been wondering just how capable Liam Hemsworth is for this particular role. As such, we have updated this article with some more information about the new Geralt’s potential.

One way to potentially explain the breakup between Henry Cavill and The Witcher is to begin at an unlikely place: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. In 2022, when Johnson was in the thick of the press tour for his passion project, Black Adam, he admitted that his dream was to star in a Black Adam versus Superman movie against Henry Cavill’s interpretation of The Man of Steel. The problem at that time was that Henry Cavill hadn’t worn Superman’s cape since the horrendous reception to 2017’s Justice League.

Johnson wasn’t about to let that get in his way. Instead, he fought against Warner Brothers Studios to include a teaser at the end of Black Adam that laid the groundwork for this epic clash between Black Adam and Superman, going over the head of then-DC Films boss Walter Hamada to do so. Shortly after Black Adam premiered, Henry Cavill excitedly announced that he was returning to the DCEU as Superman. Less than a week later, Cavill revealed that he would no longer play Geralt of Rivia. Then, everything blew up in his face.

As it turns out, Cavill’s declaration of returning to the role of Superman was a little premature. Black Adam’s critical and commercial failure may have been the death knell for the DCEU, but the company was also in a time of transition. Warner Brothers’ new owners, specifically David Zaslav of Discovery, decided to hire James Gunn and Peter Safran to reboot the DC universe. This new staffing move effectively canceled Cavill’s return as Superman less than two months after he had announced it.

Fans will probably never know how much this potential “Black Adam v Superman” film influenced Henry Cavill’s departure from The Witcher. Some believe it was a show of good faith to Warner Brothers Discover that he was committed to playing Kal-El again. It’s also equally plausible the in-motion plans for his DC Studios return conflicted with The Witcher’s upcoming shooting schedule.

Thinking the new Superman film was a done deal, Cavill simply may have decided to move on to free up the necessary time. If that is what happened, then it’s unfortunate that everything fell apart as it did. However, there are other potential reasons for Henry Cavill’s departure from Netflix’s popular fantasy franchise.

Was Henry Cavill Not Pleased with How Geralt Was Written?
Belief in the Witcher’s Material Might Have Had Everything to Do with This Decision

There are some problems with the theory that Henry Cavill departed from The Witcher because of the prospect of acting opposite Dwayne Johnson. For one, in 2019, shortly after Henry Cavill first accepted the role of Geralt of Rivia, he repeatedly insisted that he would have no problem balancing this part with any other potential role he might wish to book. Then, in 2021, during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Cavill revealed he was committed to portraying Geralt for seven seasons that had already been plotted by the series showrunner, Lauren Schmidt Hissrich. This was on the condition that the series continued to honor The Witcher creator Andrzej Sapkowski’s original work.

Fans of The Witcher, already unhappy with how the television series increasingly departed from its source material, seized on this comment as proof that Cavill was as dissatisfied with the direction of the Netflix show. This speculation isn’t entirely out of left field. Not only is Cavill a massive fan of both the books and video games that initially popularized The Witcher franchise, but both he and showrunner Hissrich have discussed that Cavill has lobbied for the TV show Geralt to be more like the character from the books. Beau DeMayo, former producer and writer of The Witcher, has also described an atmosphere behind the scenes in which some of the series’ writers have practically dismissed the books and video game, actively disliking or mocking them.

When fans learned of this disagreement between the series’ star and its creative minds, many took it as proof that Cavill quit The Witcher because he knew he would never have the chance to bring to life the version of the character he always envisioned. Another quote that came directly from Henry Cavill only a few days before his The Witcher departure lends credence to this idea.

During an interview with Josh Horowitz, Henry Cavill discussed his thoughts on acting, stating, “It’s just about belief. If you believe what you’re doing, then you’ll be able to keep on doing it. It’s also important to know that if you realize you’re doing the wrong thing, that’s when you stop doing the wrong thing. You don’t just keep on going just because.” It’s possible some creative dispute weighed on Cavill’s mind, though the notion that The Witcher’s production staff “hates” the books is unlikely. The amount of time and work put into these series alone means all involved have to, at least, care about it.

Did Henry Cavill Foster Chaos on the Set of The Witcher?

The last potential reason for Henry Cavill’s departure is, admittedly, more speculation than anything else. In December 2022, a podcast script leaked from an episode of the dubious but popular tabloid gossip podcast DeuxMoi, in which anonymous accusations were made that Henry Cavill had become disrespectful and toxic on the set of The Witcher. These accusations went so far as to suggest that Cavill had gone behind Lauren Schmidt Hissrich’s back to enforce creative changes, including rewriting his and others’ dialogue and causing production delays.

The leaked script, posted on Reddit, reads a bit like bad fanfiction. The unnamed star was noted to be a “gamer,” and thus his “misogyny” towards the women on set allegedly came from that world. While toxicity and sexism in gaming are a problem, such problems aren’t usually isolated to a single production. The rumors continued to suggest the star, believed to be Cavill, no longer wanted any romantic storylines, nor did he want to have to perform shirtless. For clarity, nothing in this unsubstantiated rumor suggests anything lewd or sexually inappropriate. Rather it describes a more general mistreatment of women superiors and a hostile work environment.