Kicking off in 2019, the live action path of Geralt of Rivia has been a tangled one. An adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski’s book series, though sharing visual sensibilities with CD Projekt’s incredibly popular video games, Netflix spearheaded The Witcher with Henry Cavill in tow. Now it appears that the finale, originally slated for 2026, has been pushed back. Creating even more distance between Geralt, Ciri and Yennefer.
According to What’s on Netflix, season five of The Witcher has been delayed to 2027. While Netflix originally confirmed a release for later this year, Geralt’s long silver locks appeared to vanish from promotional spots on Netflix’s portals. The tracking site says their sources confirm that the show has been pushed out of its original release window into the following year.
While the streamer has not been as vocal about the series as they were during its debut, it does come as some surprise. Season five was filmed back to back with the fourth, released in 2025, as showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich described them as companion pieces. No reshoots have been confirmed either, so the additional soaking may come down to spending more time on CG beasties in post production, or Netflix simply shuffling around their release schedule.
Ahead of other prestige video game TV shows, fans were excited to see Cavill pick up the blade, but stirred when the actor suddenly departed. Some speculated he left over creative differences, as Cavill told The Hollywood Reporter that he was committed to seven seasons “which honor Sapkowski’s work.” Cavill was replaced with The Hunger Games’ Liam Hemsworth, who somehow looks even more in-a-wig than his predecessor. And sure enough, liberties with the source material emerged during his season. Cavill, who only seems to grow dorkier by every road block, has since moved on to Warhammer 40K.
Netflix is infamous for losing interest in any programs outside of Stranger Things, more focused on growing subscription numbers than catering to existing audiences. With many beloved programs wrapping around their second season, The Witcher has grown pretty long in the tooth compared to its peers. Now it also competes against far more popular gaming adaptations from rival platforms, such as Amazon’s Fallout and HBO’s The Last of Us. While fans were vocal with their displeasure the Cavill-less episodes, numbers suggest the outrage did not translate to any significant dip in viewership.
