Netflix has axed an upcoming prequel to one of its most successful series as part of its latest string of programming cuts.
Fans of The Witcher were emotional after seeing the lead actor Henry Cavill’s final scenes last year and the decision to axe spinoff series The Rats will not help their cause.
The news comes just days after it was announced that there would be two more series of the main show, with Liam Hemsworth taking over the title role, before it reaches a conclusion.
The Rats was going to be focused on the group of renegades Ciri (Freya Allan) joined at the end of season three in a six-to-eight episode season.
It would have been a second prequel series for The Witcher, after 2022’s Blood Origin featuring Michelle Yeoh told a backstory 1,200 years prior to the fantasy series.
Netflix has canned a spinoff to hugely successful series The Witcher after announcing there will only be two more series of the main show. Pictured: Henry Cavill as the title character
The Rats was going to give a backstory to the gang of thieves who leave with Ciri (Freya Allan, pictured) at the end of last year’s installment of the show
Fronted by Henry as Geralt of Rivia for its first three seasons, The Witcher has given fans of the streaming giant 24 episodes over the last five years.
The story is inspired by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski’s book series of the same name which first landed on shelves in 1990 and was turned into a video game series in 2007.
The final two seasons are said to adapt the remaining of his books Baptism Of Fire, The Tower Of The Swallow, and Lady Of The Lake while promising to offer a conclusion to the series that is both epic and satisfying.
The ensemble cast also includes Anya Chalotra, Eamon Farren, Joey Batey and Anna Shafer, among others.
The latest spinoff had been penciled in two years ago – as they built up to the gang of thieves ending up with Ciri in The Witcher’s then-upcoming third season.
However, filming reportedly only lasted two months from May last year, rather than the six expected. This amounted to just one or two of the episodes.
There is a possibility that what was shot last summer will be embedded into The Witcher season four as flashbacks for the renegades who do return to the main show.
It would have been the second spinoff to the Netflix show after Blood Origin featuring Michelle Yeoh (centre) in 2022
Liam Hemsworth (left) will be taking over as The Witcher in the show’s next edition, due in the next year or two
Casting director Sophie Holland told Deadline in the build-up to season three: ‘I had a really lovely opportunity recently with a very special – almost standalone – episode of season four of The Witcher, which is exploring a completely new group of people.
‘We found a boy called Connor Crawford and we were able to put him in this group of kids in The Witcher. You meet the characters in season three and then they come into their own in season four.’
On April 18, The Witcher’s X account posted a clip of its new and returning cast members doing a table reading of part of the new season.
Centre-stage was Liam Hemsworth, who has bulked up considerably for his new role, joined by castmembers Anya as the sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg, Freya as Geralt’s ward Ciri, Joey as Jaskier the bard, Cassie Clare as the witch Philippa Eilhart and Mahesh Jadu as the mage Vilgefortz of Roggeveen.
The Witcher season four is expected at either the end of this year or in 2025.
