Last week, we received the news that Henry Cavill was to play the lead role in Netflix’s high profile Witcher series. I’m a big fan of the games and books, so this was great to hear as far as I was concerned, but right away people began to wonder whether the news was a bad omen for his future as Superman.
Industry analysts were quick to pour cold water on the idea, though, pointing out that The Witcher‘s shooting schedule wouldn’t interfere with Warner Bros.’ DCEU plans as Man of Steel 2 would be filming at the earliest in late 2019. Plus, Cavill’s manager is an expert in arranging for her clients to be able to juggle TV and film projects, so everyone assumed it’d all work out.
Crisis averted, right? Well, apparently not, as according to THR’s industry insiders, one of the primary reasons Cavill decided to take the role was his frustration at the delays in finalizing a new multi-movie contract to appear as Superman. This boiled over when Warner Bros. announced their plans for Supergirl, a move that signaled a realignment for the DCEU that would minimize Superman’s role in it for at least the next couple of years. After all, Justice League 2 isn’t going to happen anytime soon, Cavill’s not going to be cameoing in Shazam! and Man of Steel 2 is still very much a pipe dream.
And so, facing down all that, it’s perhaps not surprising that Cavill opted to take the role of Geralt of Rivia, a personal favorite character of his. This is good news for Witcher fans, too, as if the show’s a hit then there’ll be fewer scheduling conflicts for shooting future seasons and you’d hope Netflix would be able to commit fully to a long-term future with Cavill in the role.
It is, however, bad news for Superman fans, though. Warner Bros will now be thinking about recasting, so you probably shouldn’t expect another solo movie for the hero until 2023 or 2024 at the earliest. And who knows, by then the whole DCEU project could just be an awkward memory…