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The life of a monster hunter is tough, and this seems especially so for Liam Hemsworth’s Geralt of Rivia, as The Witcher Season Four is having a particularly rough time compared to past seasons of the Netflix adaptation, with viewership at an all-time low.
Following the exit of Henry Cavill (Man of Steel), who portrayed the franchise’s iconic hero across seasons one to three, Hemsworth was introduced as his replacement for Season Four, a move that sparked much controversy. Now, according to What’s on Netflix, it seems that fans’ concerns were warranted, as the show only managed to garner 7.4 million views across its launch week, a figure that pales in comparison to past seasons.
While Netflix does not have the data available for Season One, arguably the best of the bunch, since it premiered in 2019 before the streamer debuted its global daily top 10s and weekly top 10 charts, Season Two amassed 18.5 million views within its first week and Season 3 garnered 15.2 million, making the disparity especially jarring.
Additionally, according to media analytics company Samba TV, Season Four episode views also plummeted compared to Season Three, with 577,000 US households tuning in to watch episode one of the former, which marks a 35 per cent drop from the 885,000 US households that watched episode one of Season Three in the same timeframe.
As the unfortunate cherry on top, The Witcher Season Four also marks the franchise’s lowest-scoring outing yet, currently sitting at a 58 per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes, marking a significant drop from Season Three’s 79 per cent.
Whether it’s the fan’s rejection of Hemsworth’s portrayal of Geralt, the show’s deviation from its source material, or everything in between, it’s clear that audiences aren’t vibing with the trajectory The Witcher is taking, but with past reports that Season Five will be its final run, at least things will come to an end one way or another.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
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