Why is Henry Cavill leaving The Witcher?

gamesradar.com:

Henry Cavill's final season as Geralt of Rivia is now underway on Netflix. The Superman actor will be playing the White Wolf in one final set of episodes in The Witcher season 3 before The Hunger Games star Liam Hemsworth joins in his place.

The news came as quite a shock back in late 2022, but we still don't know exactly why Cavill stepped back from the Netflix show. To help you make sense of it all, we've taken a deep dive into everything he's said so far.

Starting off with the man himself, when Cavill announced his exit, he shared a statement. "My journey as Geralt of Rivia has been filled with both monsters and adventures, and alas, I will be laying down my medallion and my swords for Season 4," he wrote on Instagram. "In my stead, the fantastic Mr Liam Hemsworth 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."

While he didn't address an exact reason, some viewers also noticed that he spoke a few days prior to the announcement about decisions made in his career on the Happy Sad Confused podcast on October 27. 

"It’s just about belief. If you believe what you’re doing is the right thing then you’ll be able to keep on doing it," he told host Josh Horowitz about his work ethic (H/T Independent). "It’s also important to know that if you realise you’re doing the wrong thing, that’s when you stop doing the wrong thing. You don’t just keep going just because, because that leads down a dark path."

Elsewhere, a report from The Witcher fan website Redanian Intelligence suggested Cavill had initially been looking to leave after season 2 as