“The Witcher” returns
A fitting farewell to Henry Cavill
Henry Cavill returns to Netflix as Geralt of Rivia.
©Netflix
The fantasy series The Witcher is back on Netflix. Season three marks the departure of Henry Cavill. Are the new episodes worth it?
The Witcher is back on Netflix. The return of the popular fantasy series brings a reunion with witcher actors Henry Cavill (40). Starting June 29, the first five episodes of season three will be available on the streaming service. Part two will follow in about a month. The conclusion of the third season will consist of three episodes. However, all fans of Witcher Geralt von Rivia and his previous actor have to cope with the fact that Cavill is leaving after this series season. Liam Hemsworth (33) then takes over as White Wolf.
First up is season three, which was finished before Cavill’s departure was announced. It offers the mime, who fits so perfectly into the witcher role, a worthy farewell – even if the Netflix series still shows well-known weaknesses in addition to many successful moments, gripping fight scenes and emotional character moments.
Blended family on the run
At the beginning of the new episodes, the three main characters Geralt, Princess Ciri (Freya Allan, 21) and sorceress Yennefer (Anya Chalotra, 26) are united in an unusual way. You are on the run from the fire mage Rience (now played by Sam Woolf), who is hired by a powerful magician working in the background to capture Ciri. But on the run, the unlikely patchwork family also gets closer: Yennefer instructs Ciri in magic. Former lovers Geralt and Yennefer cautiously reconnect after the sorceress’ betrayal in season two.
However, happiness is short-lived in the world of The Witcher. The inevitable separation of the trio is imminent, while more and more attention is paid to old and new supporting characters such as spy boss Dijkstra (Graham McTavish, 62) or the Redanian prince Radovid (Hugh Skinner, 38) in the middle of the third season.
This is also one of the well-known weaknesses of Netflix production. In the fantasy series “Game of Thrones”, for example, it was relatively easy to clearly tell many different storylines spread across the entire continent of Westeros. However, viewers of “The Witcher” who are not familiar with the book or the equally legendary computer games may quickly lose track of the constantly growing arsenal of characters in the Netflix series – especially since not every subplot is as gripping as one new amorous adventure of the bard Dandelion (Joey Batey, 34).
Breathtaking fights, weak effects
The action and fight scenes of the third “The Witcher” season in particular are consistently inspiring. The athletic protagonist Henry Cavill can show off his skills here. The captivating sword fight choreographies are probably primarily due to the return of stunt coordinator Wolfgang Stegemann (49). The German expert already provided the masterful fight choreography of the carnage of Blaviken in the first episode of “The Witcher” during reshoots for the first “The Witcher” season, but sat out season two completely.
So it’s all the more regrettable that the witcher played by Cavill has to deal with monsters whose effects budget has been cut back noticeably. The actually frightening creatures don’t fit seamlessly into the real scenes due to weak computer animations, and thus disturb the fantasy illusion to a certain extent. These staging weaknesses are well known in “The Witcher”. For example, the medieval costumes in season three once again look too clean in many places – and thus do not come close to the great role model “Game of Thrones” with its medieval world sinking into the dirt.
Goodbye for Henry Cavill
Despite all these mostly well-known weaknesses of the Netflix series, the first part of the third season of “The Witcher” is quite convincing. In addition to the breathtaking action scenes, this is ensured in particular by the highly emotional family history surrounding Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri. The explosive finale of the five episodes then awakens the desire for the three-part conclusion of the season at the end of July.
However, those responsible for the series were obviously not able to keep lead actor Henry Cavill with this overall successful third season. It remains to be seen whether the Netflix series, which is still full of potential, will be able to cope with the unusual change in the main actor in season four.