Two years ago, when Henry Cavill announced he was handing over the coveted role of Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher to Liam Hemsworth, fans threw a massive tantrum.

“No, you are not perfect for the role … you will never be Geralt … no Cavill, no Witcher,” they screamed.

Based on Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski’s books, Cavill played the starring role of Geralt in the first three seasons of The Witcher when it launched in late 2019, ending mid-last year with the sword-slayer retreating to recover from injuries.

As the 34-year-old Australian Hemsworth takes over for the fourth and fifth seasons, Netflix has dropped the first look at the youngest of the three famous Hemsworth brothers, and fans are again making mixed and some brutal observations.

The Hunger Games star is seen walking through the fog with his horse and his trademark medallion, white braided hair and swords.

In the one-minute teaser trailer, Hemsworth as Geralt turns to the camera with his yellow eyes. He looks broody. He looks ready to kill.

But then reality hits for “rabid Witcher fans, who’d rather see the show cancelled than continued without Henry Cavill,” wrote Rama’s Screen, a popular film and TV critic.

“Liam … is a good actor but these are some tough shoes to step into,” he said.

“Listen, he’s fine…but you can’t take Henry from us and give us Liam. You can’t follow up a Bentley with a Jeep,” posted another user on X.

Another said: “It feels like he is cosplaying Geralt”.

GamesRadar reports author Andrzej Sapkowski is a fan of Henry Cavill’s iconic voice as Geralt in The Witcher. Photo: Netflix

An ‘attack-y fanbase’

In 2022, Cavill said his journey as Geralt had been filled with “both monsters and adventures” and would be laying down his medallion and swords for Hemsworth.

” … he will be taking up the mantle of the White Wolf.

“As with the greatest of literary characters, I pass the torch with reverence for the time spent embodying Geralt and enthusiasm to see Liam’s take on this most fascinating and nuanced of men.

“Liam, good sir, this character has such a wonderful depth to him – enjoy diving in and seeing what you can find.”

The fourth and fifth seasons will cover Sapkowski’s three remaining books: Baptism of Fire, The Tower of the Swallow and Lady of the Lake.

A humble Hemsworth and Witcher fan himself said he “had big boots to fill” but was honoured to be “handed the reins”.

Then the fanbase took over.

On Halloween, they created a petition titled “NETFLIX: You MUST keep Henry Cavill as The Witcher and replace the writers instead”.

“Henry isn’t leaving The Witcher because of Superman [he was set to play the next instalment], Netflix executives have once again made a grave decision against delivering for their fans.

Fans “loved the source material of books and games that are hated by and have actively been mocked by the writers and showrunner [Lauren Schmidt Hissrich] … Henry Cavill is one of those big fans, he knows all of it inside out and wanted to stay true to Sapkowski’s world”.

To date, the petition has received 343,000 signatures, with the core group stating they will be abandoning the show moving forward (and potentially their Netflix subscriptions).

‘Give Liam a chance’

Although we don’t have a date for season four, his co-star, Freya Allan (who plays Princess Cirilla – aka Ciri – throughout the first three series) is among those calling for everyone to give his Geralt a chance after production started in April in the UK.

“I don’t want to speak for him, but from what I’ve understood, I feel like he’s really wanting to try and bring the heart. He’s been training,” she told Collider earlier this month while promoting Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

“I feel sorry for him, honestly, because, No.1, that fan base can be very attack-y, and it’s not an ideal situation to be in taking up someone else’s role.

“But I’m really excited to see what he does. And he’s such a lovely guy.

“I just hope that people give him the time of day, you know?”