In the week since the first half of The Witcher season 3 dropped, fantasy fans have made themselves heard.
The decision to recast Geralt of Rivia — rather than pivot to a fresh character following Henry Cavill’s departure from the role — was unpopular from the start. Now that the switch-over is staring viewers in the face, they’re doing everything they can to demonstrate to Netflix just how unpopular it is, and it’s paying off in painfully low viewership numbers for the show’s latest season.
Much of this is due to the recasting debacle, but some is also on Netflix’s poor record when it comes to adaptations. The platform seems convinced that adapting a story honestly is beneath it — look to shows like Shadow and Bone if you need evidence — and the first trailer for Red, White, and Royal Blue is being used as a confusing — if strangely fitting — parallel to prove viewers’ points.
At least we’ve still got Good Omens, which is all but guaranteed to maintain momentum into its 2nd season. The 1st season was gorgeously adapted from the original book, and — while no second book exists to be adapted — confidence in the team behind its 2nd season is high. Hype rose even higher this week following a tantalizing hint from Aziraphale actor Michael Sheen, who flawlessly enticed fans with a one-word teaser for the season.
Fans work to suss out Good Omens’ season 2 plot from a single hint
The 2nd season of Amazon Prime’s stellar Good Omens adaptation is nearly upon us, and excitement is ramping up among fans. As the season’s release date inches closer, theories about the next apocalypse-level threat are littering the web, many spurred by Aziraphael actor Michael Sheen himself.
In response to a tweet asking him to share “one word to describe season two,” the actor shared a lengthy, teaser-filled word that sent fans on a Biblically-themed scavenger hunt. They’re detecting plenty of potential hints in the overstuffed word, and rumors of a zombie storyline are sending thrills through the fandom.
Red, White and Royal Blue trailer proves exactly what fans have been saying all along
I know, it seems strange to stumble across a title like Red, White and Royal Blue in your twice-weekly fantasy round-up, but I swear it’s relevant. The first trailer for the upcoming rom-com instantly sparked conversations, and — strangely enough — many of them revolve around Netflix’s The Witcher adaptation.
Most of that has to do with the extremely tenuous “adaptation” part of that sentence, after seasons of watching the show runners ditch the source material to instead pursue their own aims. The result tends to be deeply lackluster, and audiences are pointing to Red, White and Royal Blue as proof of what we really want. Adaptations that, despite creative alterations, maintain the soul of the original material, and merely bring them to audiences in a fresh medium.
Henry Cavill, through all the drama, contemplates a flawless full-circle Witcher moment
One thing that rarely receives criticism on The Witcher front is Henry Cavill, whose performance as Geralt has been lauded as “faultless.” Cavill smashes the role out of the park, despite the show’s overall failures, and maintains as one of its most popular elements. As the end of his tenure as Geralt inches closer, even Cavill is getting a bit nostalgic, and his recent story about a surprising full-circle moment helps demonstrate why.
Cavill shared — in a breakdown of that epic season 3 opener — that he first took down one of the show’s stunt man in an early season one scene. He then demolished him again in the season 3 fight scene, leaving Cavill with the unique experience of killing the same stuntman in his first and last seasons of a show.