LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Netflix has once again come under fire for a poor decision made on their part. 'The Witcher' has been anything but a smooth ride for the streaming platform and instead of making amends, they seem to have worsened things with a recent promotional tweet.
In a not-so-welcoming manner, the official Twitter account of Netflix posted a promotional tweet that many fans find extremely condescending towards Liam Hemsworth following the show's switch from their emblematic Henry Cavill. Many responded to the tweet by putting the blame on Netflix instead and calling them out on their bad move.
Netflix's promotional tweet for 'The Witcher' Season 3
Netflix's controversial promotional tweet consisted of four pictures that had different landscapes and cityscapes. All of them had the same message projected that said "Yes, he’s still Geralt in Season 3 The Witcher" with the logos of 'The Witcher' and Netflix signing it off. The tweet read, "Just in case you need a reminder."
This was quite blatantly in reference to Cavill's departure from the show following creative conflicts with the writers of the fantasy drama. As a big fan of the original books written by Andrzej Sapkowski and the video games based on the books as well, Cavill was unhappy with the direction the show was taking. He finally announced that he won't be coming back to the series after Season 3 and later, Netflix re-cast Hemsworth as the Geralt of Rivera.
Fans say Netflix should have fired the writers
Needless to say, fans of the show and the two actors were greatly disappointed with the streaming platform for their tweet. Many came forward to say that it was unfair toward Hemsworth as just to promote their show, they were treating him poorly in such a public tweet.
One user listed the issues they had with the tweet saying, "I can’t believe this is real, holy shit A) this has to mean initial watch numbers are bad B) this is absolutely throwing Liam Hemsworth straight under a bus." A fan also tweeted their views that said, "This is embarrassing as hell. All this does is tell people that s4 is going to suck and you have no faith in your recasting. Makes me feel bad for Liam Hemsworth. He's in an impossible situation, between fans who don't want a new Geralt and a show that apparently doesn't either." Another Twitter user targeted Netflix saying, "When the core of your marketing is promoting Henry Cavill, who left your show by the way, this is just a bad look. Tone deaf at its best, Christ Netflix. You fumbled this poorly."
Some fans found it funny that Netflix seemed to be regretting to continue 'The Witcher' without Cavill, one such fan said, "Witcher and DC coming to the realization they're screwed without Cavill. You love to see it." Another one targeted the showrunner in their tweet, "Fire Lauren Schmidt Hissrich and your writing team, then beg Cavill to come back so you won't have to embarrass yourselves like this." Others seemed to agree, mentioning the initial backlash faced by the streaming platform in the tweet, "This is sad. Absolutely pathetic. Netflix effed up so bad here. Why didn't they can the showrunner and do whatever was necessary to keep Henry Cavill? Did they assume he was replaceable until they saw the fan backlash?"
Many fans trust Cavill to run the show a lot better than the writers and Hissrich herself and Netflix losing him was much more than losing just the actor for Geralt. One such fan responded to the promotional tweet with, "Honestly you could just fire all your writers and have Cavill just do the story instead. Will never understand why getting rid of the lead who essentially made the story successful was the only way to keep going…"
