Henry Cavill Fought Against Sex And Nudity In The Witcher, Is This Why He Left?
Fans speculate that Henry Cavill's refusal to do gratuitous sex scenes was part of why the actor left The Witcher.
Is Superman super shy? According to FandomWire, Henry Cavill was reluctant to do certain nude scenes for The Witcher. The star pushed back when asked to do sex scenes that he didn’t feel served the story.
Last year it was reported that Henry Cavill would be quitting Netflix‘s The Witcher over disagreements about how true the series was to the source material. However, the reveal that showrunner Lauren Hissrich demanded Cavill perform intimate scenes he wasn’t comfortable with may have also contributed to the star’s leaving.
The scenes in question were between Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia, the titular Witcher, and costar Anya Chalotra who plays Yennefer. Cavill objected to the sex scenes on the basis that Geralt and Yennefer didn’t really have that kind of relationship. “We wanted it to be emotional rather than sexual.” said the Enola Holmes star. “It was really, really important, and we had to lean away from what was originally on the page.”
Meanwhile, Chalotra wanted to rehearse the intimate scenes beforehand–another big turnoff for Cavill. The Superman actor maintains that if a sex scene is necessary, it should be largely improvised. If one rehearses, then it takes some of the magic out of the moments,” admitted Henry Cavill when discussing doing sex scenes on The Witcher.
Hissrich, for her part, claims to agree with Cavill 100% despite the script saying differently. The showrunner said in a recent interview that she doesn’t consider nude scenes to be an important part of The Witcher. Hissrich even claimed that using such scenes gratuitously was “cheap.”
Fans have speculated why Henry Cavill decided to leave The Witcher ever since his departure was announced. While the unnecessary sex scenes may have been a part of it, they certainly aren’t the only reason Henry is calling it quits after three seasons.
One big fan theory was that Henry Cavill was leaving The Witcher to play Superman again, a theory that has sadly been debunked. Thoroughly and publicly. Another popular theory was that Cavill, an uber-nerd wanted The Witcher to be closer to the books and video games the show was based on. Yet another theory was that the star was burnt out after working overseas and keeping the grueling schedule The Witcher demanded.
While it’s possible that all the above reasons contributed to the star’s departure from the Netflix series (except for the Superman thing), some people actually claim the star was fired. An anonymous transcript supposedly from someone who worked on the series claims that Henry Cavill was let go from The Witcher for creating a toxic work environment. The memo cites Cavill was “impossible” to work with and that he treated the women involved with the production less than respectfully.
Whatever Henry’s reason for leaving the Netflix original series, the geeky actor should be more at home on the Warhammer 40K series he is currently developing. It remains to be seen if his absence will affect viewer numbers for Season 4. Will subscribers toss a coin to a Henry Cavill-less Witcher? Only time will tell.
