The Witcher Season 4 Hits Viewership Low For Netflix After Henry Cavill's Exit

Much tumult and controversy surrounded Henry Cavill's exit from "The Witcher," but now season 4 has finally introduced us to the former Geralt of Rivia actor's replacement: Liam Hemsworth. Unfortunately, rather than proving naysayers wrong, it seems this latest season is proving to be a bit of a dud, and it's not just /Film's Debopriyaa Dutta — who dubbed "The Witcher" season 4 the epitome of squandered potential — who thinks so.

The new season debuted on October 30, 2025, and while it managed to bring in the sort of viewership that would be the envy of many lesser shows, it failed to live up to the first-week performances of previous seasons. According to Netflix, season 4 racked up 7.4 million views in its first week on the service, which puts it at number two on the Top 10 English series chart for that week. But while "The Witcher" did manage to hit number one in seven countries and charted in 86 during its debut week, it failed to hit the overall top spot, which marks a first for the fantasy series. It should also be noted that season 4 did release on a Thursday, so while the Netflix charts cover a period from October 27 to November 2, 2025, this really only represents four days of viewership data. That said, previous seasons of "The Witcher" have all hit number one with the same Thursday releases.

Things didn't get off to a great start quality-wise, either, as "The Witcher" season 4 features the show's biggest mistake (which actually had nothing to do with Hemsworth). Still, reviewers have mostly been disappointed with the new Geralt, and fans appear to feel the same way, with season 4 having earned less than half of the first-week views of the series' last two seasons.

As Redanian Intelligence has pointed out, the previous seasons of "The Witcher" debuted at number one with the same four days of data during their first week (though season 2 only had three days). Season 2 garnered 18.5 million views in that short time, while season 3 came close with 15.2 million. That puts the 7.4 million for season 4 in stark relief and surely doesn't bode well for the series, despite the fact it managed to take the second spot on the global shows chart.

Per FlixPatrol, season 4 debuted at number three in the U.S. the day after it hit Netflix, before climbing to number two. As of November 4, 2025, however, it had fallen to number four, where it sits at the time of writing. Still, the show remains number one in 24 countries, which puts it in direct competition with "The Asset," a spy series that's been taking over Netflix's global charts. Whether Geralt and co. can rally and take number one on the overall worldwide chart in the days ahead remains to be seen, but any way you slice it, the first-week views are nowhere near those for previous seasons.

Egregious, canon-breaking character deaths and controversial lines from Geralt haven't done "The Witcher" season 4 any favors, either, but it's still early days. Perhaps this season will grow to reach the same heights of previous installments as fans get over the shock of losing Henry Cavill and warm to Liam Hemsworth's monster hunter. For now, though, things aren't looking great — though we already know "The Witcher" is set to wrap up with a fifth and final season, which has already started filming. Hence, there's no danger of the show being abruptly canceled.