The Witcher Petition to Fire Writers & Bring Back Cavill Has Over 330k Signatures
It's probably a lost cause at this point, but there's no stopping the fans.
Summary
- Petitions are a great way for fans to voice their discontent.
- The petition from The Witcher fans calling for the show's writers to be fired and for Henry Cavill to return has been a great example.
- The petition garnered over 330k signatures, and maybe Netflix will listen to its viewers.
Sometimes a beloved franchise doesn't turn out the way we want it to, sometimes a series ends prematurely or is canceled altogether, and sometimes projects are dropped by popular actors who were the main draw for the film or series. It's rare for audiences to have things go the way they want and for the creative vision of the writers to resonate with the fans, so the ability to let go is certainly an important skill when it comes to pop culture.
Still, sometimes a strong attachment to a favorite setting can work wonders. Through petitions, fans can sometimes achieve the impossible, resurrecting canceled shows or even making necessary changes to scripts. In the case of Netflix's live-action adaptation of The Witcher, fans loyal to the setting created by Andrzej Sapkowski have been outraged by the writers' creative decisions since at least Season 2, and the recent departure of Henry Cavill was considered by many to be the show's biggest loss. As such, a petition demanding that the disrespectful writers be fired and Cavill be brought back has gained a lot of signatures — who knows, maybe a miracle will happen and Netflix will listen?
Fans Have Long Been Unhappy with the Course of The Witcher
At one point, the video game trilogy The Witcher by Polish studio CD Project Red came under attack. However, the video games interpreted the story by continuing it after the final novel, The Lady of the Lake, so whether or not the games were considered canon was a subjective decision for everyone. Still, few were unhappy with the way their favorite book characters were portrayed.
In the case of the Netflix series, everything is different, as the events are based on the books, but often twisted. Notably, the second season was the most criticized for plot discrepancies. For example, Yen almost sold Ciri to the Wild Hunt, and Eskel turned out to be a jerk who was quickly killed. This is a complete disrespect for the characters Sapkowski created and a lack of understanding of their nature.
Things got worse on October 22, 2022, when it was announced that Henry Cavill would be leaving The Witcher and that Hunger Games star Liam Hemsworth would be replacing him. For many, this was devastating news, given the actor's devotion to the book and game series and his excellent performance as Geralt, praised by Andrzej Sapkowski himself.
Over 330K Signatures on the Petition
As a result, in October last year, angry fans decided to create a petition demanding to fire the team of writers led by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich and bring back Henry Cavill. In addition to the aforementioned sentiments, there are still rumors that the actor allegedly left the project because he was done working with those arrogant people who make fun of his beloved fantasy series.
Whether this is true or not, the petition on Change.org calling for the writers to be fired and for Cavill to be brought back has garnered an impressive 336,000 signatures in the year since it was started, with about 200 people signing it every day. All of this shows just how invested fans are in making sure that the live-action adaptation continues, but is of high quality and faithful to the source material.
It's unlikely that Cavill will return, as he's on much better terms now: Amazon has given him the reins to executive produce the space opera franchise Warhammer 40k, for which the company recently inked a deal with Games Workshop. Still, who knows, maybe Netflix will really listen to the fans when it comes to writers!
Source: Change.org.