“The Witcher” is Running Low on Bloodlust (Season 3 Vol. 1 Review)

Netflix’s adaptation of The Witcher has, in the last year, been through the promotional ringer. For a variety of reasons, it was announced that star Henry Cavill (a self-admitted fan of the show’s source material, and one of the series’ initial draws) would leave the show after its third season, to be replaced by Liam Hemsworth. That news, and the fact that it was announced so early, casts a long shadow over Cavill’s last season, which has been split into two parts by Netflix, undoubtedly (among other reasons) to milk his remaining time as Geralt of Rivia. I speak for many other Witcher fans that he is usually one of the best parts of the show, and his exit has the potential to strip it of what made it great in the first place.

Image courtesy of Netflix

Alas, we won’t know for sure how Cavill’s tenure ends until the second half of the season drops in July, but until then, we have a definite jumping-off point for his final arc. And it pains me to say it — I liked Season One, and adored Season Two — but The Witcher is rapidly losing a lot of the steam it gained in the first two seasons.

“The Witcher” Season One Review: Dive Deep into a New Fantasy World

Up until recently, I’d never played a video game, and I’ve never been knowledgeable of the subject, but I knew some of the major ones; and one that I’d always heard of but never paid much attention to was the Witcher games, adapted by the Polish fantasy novels by Andrzej Sapkowski. As with any other game, they never interested me…until Netflix announced a big-budgeted episode series based on the stories of the novels and games.

Now, this didn’t exactly catch my fancy, but I saw news about it. It was given a massive budget, Henry Cavill (known to me then exclusively as the DCEU’s Superman) campaigned for the lead role of Geralt of Rivia, and he eventually got it. Until its release, I put it on my radar.

The week that it was released, a bunch of my friends had already binged the entire series. It was winter break, and so everyone had more time on their hands. On the first day of the new year, I watched the first episode to see what all the fuss was about.