‘The Witcher’: Will the Show Be Canceled After Season 3?

The Witcher has experienced quite a few setbacks in the last few months — between strikes and an exiting star, will the show survive?

Both parts of The Witcher season three have now been released. While they did have some high points, overall it failed to really hit the mark. The show failed to give a proper farewell to its departing star. With real-life events intruding on the show’s production, could this be the end of The Witcher.

To be very clear, as of this writing ‘The Witcher’ has not been canceled–what follows is speculation. 

The Witcher Season 4

As things stand now Netflix is moving ahead with The Witcher season 4. Though star Henry Cavill is departing, Liam Hemsworth will be taking over the role of Geralt of Rivia. We don’t know a whole lot more about the still-approved upcoming seasons, but fans of the books can guess. As far as any official statements go The Witcher has not been canceled, but that does not mean all is well.

Delays

Courtesy of WGAWest

While Season 4 has not been canceled, it does appear it has been delayed. According to reports due to the strikes in Hollywood filming on season 4 has been pushed back. The reports do differ on how far along the show was, though it had not started filming. There is also some debate about whether the show itself has been on hold or if filming has merely been delayed. Whatever the case it seems that as long as the strikes last Season 4 isn’t really moving forward. And the truth is that not all shows move forward after strikes. These pauses give the studios time to reevaluate stuff, and some shows just quietly die. Especially ones that aren’t performing well.

Struggling With Numbers

Season 3 of The Witcher did not have good viewership numbers. The season three premiere reportedly had about 15% less viewers than that of season two.  Throughout the season the viewership numbers continued to drop. In fact, the first episode of part 2 only had about half the viewers as the season premiere had. This was despite the fact that it featured a big battle the season had been leading up to. Overall it seems like Season 3 has underpreformed even the universally panned Blood Origins. These just aren’t great numbers, and combined with negative reviews has to be making Netflix a little unsure about things.

The Spinoffs

Last year saw the release of The Witcher: Blood Origin a spinoff/prequel to The Witcher.  It received very negative reviews overall. Indeed many people blame it for hurting the overall franchise. This year a second spinoff The Rats, started filming. This show is set to follow The Rats, a group of thieves that Ciri ends up with at the end of Season 3. The show started filming in April and was supposed to do so until the end of September. However, it wrapped up filming suddenly in July. The show was supposed to be 8 episodes long, but given the short filming time, this doesn’t seem possible anymore. The show might be cut down or turned into a movie.

It could also just be canceled. The Rats has never been officially announced by Netflix. Now its filming was suddenly cut short months early and there’s been no announcement or update. All of that is pretty ominous. Interestingly Blood Origin was supposed to have six episodes, but ended up with only four, though this was a result of editing, not filming.

Could The Witcher Get Canceled?

As of now, The Witcher is not canceled. However, it does appear to be in trouble. The show has suffered declining viewership and poor reviews. One spinoff was hated by fans and the second one seems to be having its own issues. Even worse the very popular and much loved star of the show, considered by many to be the best thing about it, is leaving. Liam Hemsworth could end up doing amazing in the role, but it’s still going to hurt the show.

Combine that with delays due to strikes and the whole thing is suddenly starting to look more and more shaky. Time will tell, but no doubt there are some fans of The Witcher out there who would be happy to see it canceled after season 3, rather than continue to go downhill. They could get their last wish.

Let us know what you think the fate of “The Witcher” should be, down in the comments!

Author: Abe Apfel

Abe is that rare thing, an Austin local born and raised here. Though he keeps on moving around, DC, Japan, ETC., he always seems to find his way back eventually. Abe has decades of experience with a wide range of tabletop and RPG games, from historicals, to Star Wars to D&D and 40K. He has been contributing to BOLS since almost the start, back when he worked at and then owned a local gaming store. He used to be big into the competitive Warhammer tournament scene but age has mellowed him and he now appreciates a good casual match. He currently covers 40K tactics and lore, as well as all things Star Wars, with occasional dabbling in other topics. Abe remains in mourning over the loss of WFB to this day.