Is Henry Cavill really that important for the series?

[Surma.]

I don't understand the constant fawn over this guy. And I'm not talking about his passion for the role or the character behind the scenes.

As someone who's not American, neither is a fanboy of Henry, could someone explain what makes him so irreplaceable?

Seems like whole of internet, based on commentators and comments below each video, is keen on this idea of saying season 3 will be the last season they'll ever watch, while soon after in each video review of season 3 seemingly dunking on the season.

[...]

I understand not liking the changes made in plot, but this thing happens with pretty much each and every book adaptation (just taking example, Harry Potter), usually giving main cast more roles or adding tension.


(Just a complete side note, and pardon for disagreeing with 99% of people here, but I found Game of Thrones the most boring in the earliest seasons while it was so closely trying to follow the source material. The plot advanced so slowly and there's so many small details to follow, if you're not the greatest most absolutely devoted fan, you would likely be better of with some changes to simplify the plot)

Okay we can all agree to disagree on the plot... but seemingly there's a huge consensus of at least commentators but also seemingly between the average guys, that Henry gave something irreplaceable in his acting.


I was curious to watch some deep fakes and to see people to react in comments. Most people keep repeating this idea that Henry is so unique in his features that he's impossible to replace and that season 3 is going to be their last... But if you'd grey Liam's eyebrows and add yellow eyes, you wouldn't likely even see the difference between these 2 actors... or am I crazy?

[...]

Guess I'm out of touch with this opinion for not seeing the appeal?

 

[John_Russell]

A lot of these same people also said season one was the last one they would watch ..... and then showed up commenting on season two, hated season two but are here again commenting on season 3. If you say you like the series they'll attack like a pack of wild dogs. I'm rewatching season 2 right now and haven't even gotten to season 3 yet so I can't comment on that but I'll probably watch season 4 and give the new guy a chance. I've never read the books so I don't really care about "canon" and find it interesting that people who claim to care about canon also end up rejecting Yen and romancing Triss in the game which isn't canon. Yennifer is the canon love interest of Geralt

However I haven't bought an EA game since 2004 because EA took the NASCAR license away from Papyrus Racing which killed the company and then instead of putting out a racing simulation they turned the NASCAR Racing franchise into an arcade/console racer. (I ran a NASCAR Racing server and league from 2001-2006 and was a beta tester for Papyrus 1996-2003) I haven't bought an EA title since although I did play the Mass Effect Trilogy remake on PC Game Pass after it came out but didn't actually buy the game

 

[Surma.]

However I haven't bought an EA game since 2004 because EA took the NASCAR license away from Papyrus Racing which killed the company and then instead of putting out a racing simulation they turned the NASCAR Racing franchise into an arcade/console racer. (I ran a NASCAR Racing server and league from 2001-2006 and was a beta tester for Papyrus 1996-2003) I haven't bought an EA title since although I did play the Mass Effect Trilogy remake on PC Game Pass after it came out but didn't actually buy the game

That's a real bummer.

I got no major gripes with EA, just don't like their micro transaction model.

Don't play their sports games myself but I played Ice Hockey game like 3 years ago on friend's place, and it was FULL blown microtransaction hell. Once you complete a round it's like you collected these cards to add to some artificial small power to players or something, and you got to spend them to keep your team afloat, getting then bombarded with all these adds to buy more points.... Just so weird and frightening that got me scared from buying any sports game from EA if I ever was interested.

I bought and played the Fallen Order game through once. Found easily repeatable exploit which allowed me to fly in game endlessly. Something like pressing parry just before pressing jump button.

So weird this has remained in game like 1 year from release when I bought this game. They don't seem too keen in fixing those sorts of exploits. May probably get the 2nd game from that same series, but not in full price, not even half the price. Was very disappointed in lack of variety in builds. There was not really even talents for upgrading force skills akin to what they were even in KOTOR.



Back to the topic, yeah, even my brother usually repeats these same talking points like "it's not following the plot" or "omg it's so buggy and broken, maybe I'll buy it when it's fixed-lol", just word for word for whatever the internet echo chamber tells them.

Used to be a big fan of these channels but I can't watch any of this mockery about any gaming company and take these guys seriously. Either they are completely clueless or they are doing it intentionally just to rake in ad-money, rather than being objective observants. I know being angry, sad or weird is kinda a gimmick these guys use to get their niche market audience, but it's so far more tempting to just be overall with the herd than try to shepard them...

And the greatest irony is often these people blame others for just going with the herd, while they immediately shut down any dissent themselves.

 

[Feline_Witcher_]

I didn't like Henry Cavill as Geralt AT ALL. The actor from the Polish show was so much better. He actually felt like the character from the books.

Post automatically merged: Jul 6, 2023

A lot of these same people also said season one was the last one they would watch ..... and then showed up commenting on season two, hated season two but are here again commenting on season 3. If you say you like the series they'll attack like a pack of wild dogs. I'm rewatching season 2 right now and haven't even gotten to season 3 yet so I can't comment on that but I'll probably watch season 4 and give the new guy a chance. I've never read the books so I don't really care about "canon" and find it interesting that people who claim to care about canon also end up rejecting Yen and romancing Triss in the game which isn't canon. Yennifer is the canon love interest of Geralt

However I haven't bought an EA game since 2004 because EA took the NASCAR license away from Papyrus Racing which killed the company and then instead of putting out a racing simulation they turned the NASCAR Racing franchise into an arcade/console racer. (I ran a NASCAR Racing server and league from 2001-2006 and was a beta tester for Papyrus 1996-2003) I haven't bought an EA title since although I did play the Mass Effect Trilogy remake on PC Game Pass after it came out but didn't actually buy the game

I dislike the show, but I don't mind different opinions. I will continue watching out of curiosity and because you can only criticise something if you see it.

 

[Surma.]

you can only criticise something if you see it

If only more people took this approach, the world would be a completely different place

 

[Malautomedontolo]

Cavill leaving means the next season got even worse than the current ones.

 

[igor565]

I don’t understand the hype around Cavill’s leaving either. Imo he’s a below average actor, with only one ability to make a stone face when he must show any other emotions. Henry Cavill simply plays Henry Cavill in every movie.

But the problem is not his acting skills. The whole show is a complete mess of some book fragments, made up stories, mainstream scenes. This end up in no real interesting story to watch or a character to be associated with.
I understand that when making an adaptation, some things should be changed so it brings more people to watch the show etc. But they completely butchered the original and didn’t bring a complete new interesting plot themselves. Why even adding anything, if it ends up nowhere.

Gonna still watch the rest of the show to see how much of a cringe it can become.

 

[AikoHayashi]

Well, I like how Cavill is playing Geralt (and he is good-looking too ), but I don't watch the show only because of him. The content of the show is important as well. To me is weird when an actor is changed (in any show), but OK, as it seems it has been already decided.

 

[a3n3a]

Personally it's more the immersion breaking effect... It's my main reason to criticize the change of a lead role three seasons in.
Recall the series Spartactus where Liam McIntyre did an amazing job playing the role, taking over from Andy Whitfield (rip). Still, it never felt completely right, even though there was no other way to do it and continue with the series.

 

[AvarageEnjoyer]

Anyone who was watching the show only for Cavil wasn't really watching the show. It also says a lot about quality of it, when replacement of one, as correctly pointed out by @igor565, wooden actor can drive someone away from it. If something is so empty and talentless, that its success is supported only by one buff guy doing silly faces, then you might as well cancel it all together.

 

[Jesting-Jack]

The issue is not Henry Cavill but the replacement of a leading actor after the viewers have already been accustomed to him. That's not a good move in general.
The show was bad even before he left though. I stopped watching after I saw what they did to my boy Eskel...

 

[Feline_Witcher_]

The issue is not Henry Cavill but the replacement of a leading actor after the viewers have already been accustomed to him. That's not a good move in general.
The show was bad even before he left though. I stopped watching after I saw what they did to my boy Eskel...

I've only watched S2 once when it came out, but I still remember clearly Eskel's senseless Grootification... one of the most horrible moments in the show

 

[AvarageEnjoyer]

The show was bad even before he left though. I stopped watching after I saw what they did to my boy Eskel...

There was practically no Eskel in the show though. They made a new character, gave him Eskel's name, then killed him off in the same episode. I'm not even upset, because the guy they killed bears no resemblance to the character he shares name with.

 

[Tokenn77]

If the stories and writing were good, Cavill's presence might not be so crucial. IMO he's the best part of the show...his passion and commitment to the role of Geralt really shows...or it did. I found the first season confusing [the weird time-line thing] and the second season was just a mess. I haven't watched season 3...I don't know if I'll bother. Evidently the producers and writers don't understand that you can't just throw sets, costumes and action scenes on the screen and keep the fans of original source material around.

This is not to disparage the other actors in the production. They are good, but their contributions aren't central, and they don't carry the show.

 

[jeffaubin24]

Honestly, Henry Cavill doesn't necessarily have any importance to the show. It's just that Geralt is usually a beloved character, and changing actors in the middle of the show is a huge blow to continuity and to those trying to get invested in the character. Just as you get used to this version of Geralt and start to like him and root for him, you now have to start over. In any show, with any actor, that's going to have a severe impact on popularity (except anthology series or series where the character changing is the point, like Doctor Who).

It doesn't help that the show itself is.. well, it's pretty bad. I don't mind series changing things about the books, because they literally have to, otherwise it wouldn't work. Sometimes, putting a story into another type of media requires major changes to make it work. Still, if we're comparing Harry Potter to the Witcher, HP might as well have been adapted word for word. Having read the books, the first two movies are basically as close as you can get to a word for word adaptation. It does divert a little more in the last movies since the books got increasingly longer. Also, the changes they made were actually pretty good, as in they allowed the director to tell a good story with good developments. IMO, the changes made to the Witcher series do not do that at all. A lot of the characters became too one dimensional, and lost a lot of what made them special in the games or the books. If this series hadn't had the Witcher name, I probably would have stopped watching a couple of episodes in season 2.

Meanwhile, it's been publicly said that Cavill has been fighting to keep the show more faithful to the books. It's also been publicly revealed that the writers of the show literally hate the Witcher books and games, and they are purposefully changing the story because they don't like it. Knowing all of this, it makes sense that fans of the show that became interested in the series because of the books and the games, which is obviously a significant part of people discussing the show on the internet, started rooting for Cavill and resenting the writers and the producers. It's also been implied that Cavill decided to leave because the show was going to divert even further from the source material, which doesn't bode well for the series since the writers have shown not to be any good at writing original plotlines.

As for Cavill himself as an actor, personally, I am not a fan. I didn't like him in Superman, and the only other stuff I've seen him in is Mission Impossible and The Man From Uncle, where I thought he fit in as a generic big guy with a lot of muscles who can fight. Still, he clearly cares about the Witcher, and he worked hard to get the mannerisms and the personality of Geralt right. IMO, it shows. People say he is wooden, but that is how Geralt himself is supposed to be. Liam Hemsworth is also definitely not any better, and I can't remember a single performance of him that left an impression on me.

For all those reasons, despite the fact that I don't even like Henry Cavill that much, I will definitely stop watching the show after Season 3. Not as some sort of boycott because they are dropping an actor I like or anything like that, but simply because it seems clear to me that show is headed down the drain.

 

[GrimReaper801]

Personally I think @Jesting-Jack and @jeffaubin24 hit the nail on the head.

I don't think Cavill is a particularly strong actor, I don't think he's bad mind you but I don't think he's had a role where he truly shined, yet his love for the source material is clear and he played a pretty decent Geralt in my opinion. It's been reported that he was pretty much the only one pushing for staying true to the source material and I don't believe the show will head in any kind of decent direction from this point on. There is adaptation and then there is adaption, change everything. Which has been a problem with the series so far but it'll get worse going forward I expect.

Combine that with the fact they're changing the main actor which is just never a popular move, especially one that has established their presence and, in my opinion, you have a recipe for disaster. I don't expect a fifth season. Sucks for Hemsworth but it is what is.

So is Cavill really that important for the series? I would say so.

I can't say I'm disappointed to be perfectly honest. The show was fine for what it was but I won't miss it and Cavill's Warhammer 40k project is something I am highly interested in. If it's done right, it'll be freaking amazing. So, his leaving is possibly a win in my book

 

[Feline_Witcher_]

Honestly, Henry Cavill doesn't necessarily have any importance to the show. It's just that Geralt is usually a beloved character, and changing actors in the middle of the show is a huge blow to continuity and to those trying to get invested in the character. Just as you get used to this version of Geralt and start to like him and root for him, you now have to start over. In any show, with any actor, that's going to have a severe impact on popularity (except anthology series or series where the character changing is the point, like Doctor Who).

It doesn't help that the show itself is.. well, it's pretty bad. I don't mind series changing things about the books, because they literally have to, otherwise it wouldn't work. Sometimes, putting a story into another type of media requires major changes to make it work. Still, if we're comparing Harry Potter to the Witcher, HP might as well have been adapted word for word. Having read the books, the first two movies are basically as close as you can get to a word for word adaptation. It does divert a little more in the last movies since the books got increasingly longer. Also, the changes they made were actually pretty good, as in they allowed the director to tell a good story with good developments. IMO, the changes made to the Witcher series do not do that at all. A lot of the characters became too one dimensional, and lost a lot of what made them special in the games or the books. If this series hadn't had the Witcher name, I probably would have stopped watching a couple of episodes in season 2.

Meanwhile, it's been publicly said that Cavill has been fighting to keep the show more faithful to the books. It's also been publicly revealed that the writers of the show literally hate the Witcher books and games, and they are purposefully changing the story because they don't like it. Knowing all of this, it makes sense that fans of the show that became interested in the series because of the books and the games, which is obviously a significant part of people discussing the show on the internet, started rooting for Cavill and resenting the writers and the producers. It's also been implied that Cavill decided to leave because the show was going to divert even further from the source material, which doesn't bode well for the series since the writers have shown not to be any good at writing original plotlines.

As for Cavill himself as an actor, personally, I am not a fan. I didn't like him in Superman, and the only other stuff I've seen him in is Mission Impossible and The Man From Uncle, where I thought he fit in as a generic big guy with a lot of muscles who can fight. Still, he clearly cares about the Witcher, and he worked hard to get the mannerisms and the personality of Geralt right. IMO, it shows. People say he is wooden, but that is how Geralt himself is supposed to be. Liam Hemsworth is also definitely not any better, and I can't remember a single performance of him that left an impression on me.

For all those reasons, despite the fact that I don't even like Henry Cavill that much, I will definitely stop watching the show after Season 3. Not as some sort of boycott because they are dropping an actor I like or anything like that, but simply because it seems clear to me that show is headed down the drain.

Yeah we know for a fact the show is made by people "with a strong dislike for The Witcher novels and videogames". It's obvious when watching the show, given that there is no trace of the Slavic Mythology feel, it has been turned into a generic fantasy, and with terrible production values (horrific costume design and monsters).

I feel like the reason why I enjoyed House of the Dragon so much is because it feels like a godsend compared to this show. Hell, Daemon and Aemond looked more like Geralt than Henry Cavill.

 

[Spockprime]

Personally I think @Jesting-Jack and @jeffaubin24 hit the nail on the head.

I don't think Cavill is a particularly strong actor, I don't think he's bad mind you but I don't think he's had a role where he truly shined, yet his love for the source material is clear and he played a pretty decent Geralt in my opinion. It's been reported that he was pretty much the only one pushing for staying true to the source material and I don't believe the show will head in any kind of decent direction from this point on. There is adaptation and then there is adaption, change everything. Which has been a problem with the series so far but it'll get worse going forward I expect.

Combine that with the fact they're changing the main actor which is just never a popular move, especially one that has established their presence and, in my opinion, you have a recipe for disaster. I don't expect a fifth season. Sucks for Hemsworth but it is what is.

So is Cavill really that important for the series? I would say so.

I can't say I'm disappointed to be perfectly honest. The show was fine for what it was but I won't miss it and Cavill's Warhammer 40k project is something I am highly interested in. If it's done right, it'll be freaking amazing. So, his leaving is possibly a win in my book

Pretty much this I think.

I didn't like the series (did I even watch season 2? -- I can't remember). Lots of reasons: bad story, sometimes bad acting (Cavill wasn't even close to the worst, in my opinion), sometimes decent acting for characters that deviate so much from the source material that I barely recognize them, et cetera. However, from nearly everything I've read, Cavill is the reason that the show wasn't even worse, and that the main reason he left is that he couldn't resolve his conflict with people who wanted to deviate even more from the source material.

Thus, it's not so much a case of losing a great actor. It's more a case of what his departure seems to be indicating about the direction of the series. Well, maybe part of it is the actor, considering he was the face of the series, and considering that a lot of people apparently aren't fond of the replacement. But mostly I think it's the expectation that the story will now be horrific, rather than just bad.

 

[DjSpyder]

I think a lot of it comes down to the "Behind the Scenes Rumors."

So first off, my personal opinion out of the way, I like the show, I like Henry as Geralt, and I feel like at best it's going to be an adjustment moving from Henry to Liam at worst it just won't work, and the show will suffer for it. But I'm willing to give it a shot because I don't believe in judging especially hating something before giving it a fair chance.

But back to the rumors and uproar. Basically, if the rumors are true, he left the show because he wanted the show to be more like the books, with hints of the games... and Netflix basically crapped all over the source material and he butted heads with them. Then you have the writers and show runner acting like he "Was difficult" but the cast talking about how much they love him and can't imagine the show without him, which side note, all of the contradicting drama is NOT helping sell season 4. There was one interview where it basically looked like the rest of the cast wished they were leaving too, (Yen, Ciri and Dandelion) when asked about it they all just seemed really bummed out over the whole thing.

But because of all the rumors and drama people are taking sides, either he was the "champion" that was fighting for the integrity of the show and "Carrying the series" or he was the "toxic fanboy" that made life difficult for the "Female Showrunner" which is all just fanning the flames and baiting people into arguing over it. But I think this is what it really comes down to, the drama surrounding it, the fact that it's all still rumors and the fact that neither side is actually saying anything. The show runner making vague comments like "I'll talk about it after season 3 airs" probably isn't helping either. I feel like if there wasn't as much drama over it, like if he was just moving to a new show, it wouldn't be getting as much attention.

So, where I'm at with it is, I like him as Geralt, seems like a good dude out of character, and I'll probably "Miss" him as Geralt. BUT I'll give season 4 a shot, Liam is a decent actor, the show was originally planned for 5 seasons, so If they can get to 5 with Liam finishing it up, and wrap things up nicely, then cool, and if 4 is a bad as people think it's going to be then I might pass on 5.

 

[Feline_Witcher_]

But because of all the rumors and drama people are taking sides, either he was the "champion" that was fighting for the integrity of the show and "Carrying the series" or he was the "toxic fanboy" that made life difficult for the "Female Showrunner" which is all just fanning the flames and baiting people into arguing over it.

Both of these sound like obvious bullshit. The show never had any integrity to speak of.