If you’ve been out of the loop, Henry Cavill has stepped down from his role as Geralt in Netflix’s “The Witcher,” based on the popular books and video game series. Fans are not happy (neither are we, he’s great). But at least one person working on the show understands his decision.

Showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich sympathized with fan’s reaction. But Hissrich also asked fans to stick around, even if Cavill won’t be part of its cast. “It’s a big deal for us, too,” Hissrich said. “There’s a lot of talk and rumors about and we fully understand why fans are going there.” Cavill will be replaced by Liam Hemsworth – younger brother of Chris Hemsworth – following the upcoming “Blood Origin” spin-off.
She encouraged fans to watch upcoming seasons, for the good of the franchise. “What I will say is please come back for ‘The Witcher‘ season three so that we can continue to do this. Obviously, that [Cavill’s departure] is huge news. But what I don’t want to do is – this has to stay about ‘Blood Origin,’ Declan [that’s Declan de Barra, Blood Origin’s showrunner], the cast, and the crew. This is their time in the spotlight.”

Fans fear the mainline series will diverge further from author Andrzej Sapkowski’s source material, with large sections of the fanbase previously criticizing the plot-based deviations taken by the show’s creative team in season 2. Multiple rumors have circulated online since news of Cavill’s departure broke, with many fans suggesting he’d fallen out with the show’s writers and producers over the direction of the show’s story. Ever the gentleman, Cavill didn’t express animosity towards the series’ creative team in his own Instagram post about leaving the show. Instead, he chose to ask Hemsworth to carry on Geralt’s legacy in the live-action adaptation.