The Witcher season 3 will be Henry Cavill's last playing Geralt of Rivia, and this could be a bad omen regarding Netflix's continued changes to established canon. The story of The Witcher comes from the book series of the same name by author Andrzej Sapkowski, which also inspired the beloved video game series. Unfortunately, the Netflix series has developed a reputation for making unnecessary and unpopular changes to the tale as fans know it. Now that Cavill has chosen to leave his Geralt character behind, the differences from canon will only get worse in The Witcher season 3.

The changes to The Witcher's canon began in season 1, with Netflix taking large creative liberties with the backstories for Geralt, Ciri, and especially Yennefer. However, these provided more foundation for the characters and were mostly accepted without much controversy. Unfortunately, modifications to the canon established by the books and video games only seemed to worsen in The Witcher season 2. Yennefer's powers were taken away, a newly-created central villain was introduced, and The Witcher began to feel like an entirely different fantasy series.

Cavill's Departure Means More Divergences From Witcher Canon

Henry Cavill as Geralt in The Witcher

After the poor reception received by The Witcher season 2, one might have hoped that Netflix would learn from its mistakes and get back to a canon foundation. However, the announcement that Geralt would exit after The Witcher season 3 makes this seem unlikely. Cavill is known to be a fan of the Witcher books and video games, and has long been rumored to have made behind-the-scenes efforts to keep his character and the surrounding plot aligned with the source material. Cavill has spoken on numerous occasions about how important honoring Andrzej Sapkowski's canon was for him to continue playing Geralt in The Witcher.

The Witcher season 3 being Cavill's last seems to indicate that the Netflix adaptation will only drift further from canon following the massive deviations of season 2. It is hard to imagine that The Witcher could possibly get further off base. Still, without Cavill to constantly champion canon authenticity in what has been known to be his passion project, The Witcher season 3 and beyond will likely divert even further from Geralt's original story. Of course, The Witcher season 4 will also have its work cut out trying to make Cavill's Geralt exit work.

Canon Changes Are A Problem For The Witcher's Future

Composite image of Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer in The Witcher

Any movie or TV adaptation from a book series is bound to make changes to canon, and this has long been something that bothers existing fans. However, in the case of The Witcher, there has already been a beloved and widely accepted adaptation of Sapkowski's book series. The Witcher video games implemented their fair share of modifications to Geralt's story, but maintained the same overall mood and flavor. Additionally, many fans found the games first, which inspired them to pick up the books to discover the true canon story.

While Netflix's The Witcher might have had more freedom if it had been the first adaptation of the books, the established canon was just too strong to get away with such huge changes. In the end, The Witcher canon does not fit with the books or games, so the overall world is not cohesive. The Witcher's best hope would have been to take a step back and depend more on the established story, but now that the canon-friendly Cavill has departed, this does not seem likely.