Henry Cavill is a British actor known for his roles in blockbuster films like Man of Steel and Justice League and TV series like The Witcher and The Tudors. However, his toxic behavior in his personal and professional life has often scandalized moviegoers.

Moreover, it has made him controversial and negatively impacted his image. Unfortunately, Cavill’s casual misogyny has ultimately cost him the iconic roles that shaped his career. 

He was allegedly in a showmance with Kaley Cuoco

Cavill was promoting Man of Steel, which premiered on June 14, 2013, when he started dating actor Kaley Cuoco that July. During their fleeting ten-day romance, the pair managed to squeeze in several paparazzi strolls before their relationship fizzled out as abruptly as it began. 

At the time, Cuoco was the second highest-paid television actress in Hollywood, and to some, the timing and nature of Cavill’s fling with Cuoco seemed suspicious. Many wondered who leaked the news of their budding romance to the news media. There were whispers that their relationship was a tawdry publicity stunt invented by their publicists.

Cavill soon resumed his relationship with his girlfriend, Gina Carano, whom he started dating in September 2012.

He dated a big game hunter

In 2014, Cavill ended his relationship with Carano and started dating Marisa Gonzalo, a then 21-year-old from Detroit, Michigan, who was a big game hunter in her spare time. Fans of the Mission Impossible star were baffled to learn that the self-described animal lover was dating someone who killed animals for sport.

He was beloved for raising money to support environmental causes. The star encouraged fans to sponsor mountain gorillas and other endangered species.

Cavill aficionados were stunned when the photos Gonzalo had proudly posted of her kills on social media circulated in the press. Many felt that it was hypocritical of Cavill to claim to love animals on one hand while dating someone who killed animals as a hobby.

His relationship with Gonzalo eventually collapsed amidst scandalous rumors that she was leaking stories to the press for profit and clout.

He got aroused on the set of The Tudors

In 2015, Cavill told Men’s Fitness that he got aroused while shooting an intimate scene with a colleague for The Tudors. He admitted that he had not prepared properly before the shoot.

“I hadn’t rearranged my—stuff into a harmless position. She’s basically rubbing herself all over me and, um, it got a bit hard.”

However, Cavill said that the blushing event was a one-time thing. He explained that he found it challenging to expose his body on set in front of members of the cast and crew. He said the experience was awkward and distasteful. Cavill gave a dismal description of shooting sex scenes:

“The actual physicality is very uncomfortable. All you’re doing is smacking your nuts against someone, and nothing is going in.”

Some might say that his comments underscore the importance of having intimacy coordinators on TV and film sets to monitor the choreography for the scene and safeguard the actors.

He dated a teenager when he was in his 30s

In October 2015, 32-year-old Cavill fell for a 19-year-old Bristol University student at Mahiki nightclub in London. Her name was Tara King, and Cavill went public with their relationship shortly after it began.

The Enola Holmes star happily attended red-carpet events with the teenager on his arm. When Elle asked him about their age gap, Cavill remarked:

“People say age is just a number. It’s actually a real and true sign of someone’s maturity. But in this case, she’s fantastic.”

He also revealed that when he was 19, he was in a relationship with a 32-year-old.

Cavill had high praise for King, who he described as protective, caring, and accepting. However, their romance ended in May 2016. Sources say the pair split because they were looking for different things, but remained friends.

He claims age-appropriate relationships aren’t easy

Cavill claimed he dated younger women for practical reasons, explaining the demands of his career made it difficult to date someone with an established life of their own. He told Playboy that it was challenging to date a public figure for women his age with their own careers. He explained that young women who had not established their careers were more amendable to his lifestyle:

“It’s tough for anyone to be in a relationship with someone like me. It’s a tough lifestyle. If I want someone who’s a professional they’ve got their own s**t going on. So unless I meet someone who’s very, very young who hasn’t yet started trying a career like that, you can then go, ‘Okay, I’m going to travel with you and do some stuff, maybe I’ll write or whatever; I’ll entertain myself or build my own kind of traveling career.'”

Cavill said he would like to have a relationship with an age-appropriate partner who had built an established life. He revealed that he’s come to understand that unequal relationships aren’t wholesome.

I’m looking for someone who’s my own age and will have a career. If they haven’t, then maybe I should be worried. It’s easier said than done.

Once again, Cavill’s comments stirred up controversy and his interview with Playboy was scrubbed from the internet to protect his image.

Perhaps someday, Cavill will realize that many men in his career field have accomplished the daunting feat of building an equal relationship with a romantic partner and learning from their example.

Controversial remarks about the #MeToo movement

In 2018, Cavill engineered a self-made disaster with his astonishingly insensitive remarks about how the #MeToo movement inconvenienced his love life. He appeared to be oblivious to the harm of sexual violence on people who experienced it and expressed disdain for changing social and cultural norms surrounding sexual harassment and consent.

“It’s very difficult to do that if there are certain rules in place. Because then it’s like: ‘Well, I don’t want to go up and talk to her, because I’m going to be called a rapist or something. So you’re like, ‘Forget it, I’m going to call an ex-girlfriend instead, and then just go back to a relationship, which never really worked.’ But it’s way safer than casting myself into the fires of hell, because I’m someone in the public eye, and if I go and flirt with someone, then who knows what’s going to happen?”

People found Cavill’s views problematic for several reasons. His remarks perpetuated harmful myths about sexual harassment and consent. He also expressed a misguided belief that women are to be feared or conquered as opposed to accepting women as people with a right to set boundaries around their sexuality. Finally, his comment seemed to suggest that the protection of women from sexual harassment complicates the lives of men.

Cavill published an apology in The Hollywood Reporter, claiming he has only the utmost respect for women and blaming the editors at GQ Australia for how his obtuse views found their way into print.

“Never would I intend to disrespect in any way, shape, or form. This experience has taught me a valuable lesson as to the context and the nuance of editorial liberties.”

As flimsy as his redress was, his fans gave him a pass and went back to swooning over his good looks.

Most of the controversies surrounding Henry Cavill seem related to his cavalier attitude toward women and several tone-deaf remarks about the #MeToo movement. Fortunately for the British star, his fanbase remains unswayed by the star’s sexist shenanigans and he’s currently gearing up for Amazon Prime Video’s Warhammer adaptation.

Geralt of Rivia may be one of the most iconic pop culture characters today, but The Witcher saga had much humbler beginnings in the ’80s.

Having risen to prominence in Europe as a leading figure of the grimdark subgenre, and further bolstered by CD Projekt Red’s acclaimed video game trilogy, the story of the monster-hunter Geralt of Rivia is now a cornerstone of fantasy literature.

Most people would describe The Witcher as a dark, gritty tale that underpins themes like determinism, love, and tragedy. The story’s deep-rooted allusions to Slavic folklore and mythos certainly make a case for it being the most prominent contemporary work of grimdark. But at its heart, The Witcher is the tale of an alienated man trying to make his way in the world, often stumbling into destiny even if he works hard to avoid it.

The Witcher books, written by Polish novelist Andrzej Sapkowski, have sold millions of copies and spawned a multimedia franchise in the form of CD Projekt’s games, Dark Horse’s comic books, and Netflix’s live-action adaptation. Here’s how you can get into them in the proper order.

How many Witcher books are there?

Andrzej Sapkowski was slowly inching toward his 40th year when he first conceived the story of Geralt for a short story competition in a Polish sci-fi magazine. Back then, The Witcher was basically a retelling of a classic Polish fairy tale where a princess turns into a monster for the sins of her parents. You know, the usual scenario where the hero is thrust into a web of intrigue and unravels it to the disquietude of not just himself, but the whole of humanity.

Reactions to the short story were incredibly positive, so Sapkowski continued to expand Geralt’s story through a number of other self-contained outings. In 1990, Sapkowski published The Witcher, which featured four short stories centering around Geralt’s adventures. He then released Sword of Destiny in 1992, continuing Geralt’s journey and introducing his ward, Princess Cirilla. A year after that in 1993, Sapkowski re-released The Witcher under the title of The Last Wish, and the two collections of short stories became a gateway into the fictional world of the Continent.

And so, if you wish to dive into The Witcher books, you’ll want to start with these two anthology series:

• The Last Wish (1993)
• Sword of Destiny (1992)

The rest of the saga, featuring the story of Geralt and Ciri and a world that’s hell-bent on separating them, is chronicled through a pentalogy of novels in this order:

• Blood of Elves (1994)
• Time of Contempt (1995)
• Baptism of Fire (1996)
• The Tower of the Swallow (1997)
• The Lady of the Lake (1999)

Apart from these seven books, we also have Season of Storms, which is a 2013 prequel set between the stories of The Last Wish. You can read this prequel after finishing the saga, or somewhere in between; the decision is yours.

Andrzej Sapkowski is currently working on an upcoming, as-of-yet untitled Witcher book, so it’s entirely possible for Geralt’s canonical story to finally continue beyond The Lady of the Lake after more than two decades.

It’s been a whirlwind week for Netflix, with hits coming from all directions. Every story you’re about to read about is juicier than the next (except for the renewal of a beloved 12-year-old show, which was entirely unsurprising).

From legal trouble and the questionable ventures of a sci-fi director using Netflix’s money to the author of a series plagued by controversy confirming the fans’ biggest fears, we’ve got the latest news in Netflix-land and we’re serving them in a platter worthy of any Holiday tabletop.

Squid Game: The Challenge contestants threaten legal action

It turns out the people signing up for a game show inspired by a fictional series where contestants risk their lives for a chance at winning nearly $36 million didn’t actually expect the fake version to resemble the real thing so much.

According to Deadline, two ex-contestants of Squid Game: The Challenge have sought legal counsel next to British personal injuries law firm Express Solicitors after suffering hypothermia and nerve damage thanks to cold conditions on set. As was widely reported in the past, three people had to receive medical aid during filming for the first game of the show, “Red Light, Green Light,” where people have to be motionless for some time, as the U.K. was going through a cold snap.

A spokesperson for the show told Deadline, “No lawsuit has been filed,” but Express Solicitors has begun proceedings by sending letters of claim to Studio Lambert, a co-producer on the Netflix property, according to a press statement released by the law firm.

Black Mirror continues to weather the Netflix storm with a season 7 renewal

Any show with over three seasons seems like the eighth wonder of the world these days, especially on Netflix. The streamer is famous for ruthlessly axing projects before even giving them a fighting chance, yet the titles that helped it become the entertainment giant it is today will always get a pass. We’re talking about Black Mirror which has just been renewed for a seventh season, but also the likes of The Crown and Stranger Things.

Then again, the phenomenon that is Black Mirror, an anthology series dealing with (not so) dystopian (anymore) scenarios, is well-deserving of the honor after its sixth outing became Netflix’s most-watched despite taking a whopping four years to come out. No word yet on how long season 7 will take to hit the TUDUM streamer, but we’re hoping they’re not looking to break their own record.

The curious case of the $55 million sci-fi series that never was, or how Netflix got swindled

The New York Times broke a damning story on Thursday about how director Carl Erik Rinsch allegedly used Netflix money to invest in the stock market, buy cryptocurrency, and other luxuries instead of finishing the sci-fi show he had been contractually obliged to deliver.

Conquest was the name of the series Netflix managed to secure the rights to in 2018 in a fierce battle against Amazon, agreeing on a $61.2 million deal, to be paid in installments. According to the NYT, Rinsch had made “six short episodes ranging from four to 10 minutes” previously, which he used to pitch the streaming world. What Netflix failed to realize (or chose to ignore) was that not only did Rinsch need a cash injection from none other than Keanu Reeves to finish that sample, but there were also 24-hour-long shoots and an actress who wound up in the hospital with hypothermia.

Unsurprisingly, the shoot for the actual series wasn’t much different, with a local film industry union in Brazil being called to São Paulo after complaints of “mistreatment” and “irritation” from the director on set. The NYT also reports that in another shoot in Budapest, Rinsch said his wife, a fellow producer on the show, was plotting to have him killed.

Not only did his erratic behavior get worse as Rinsch reportedly began making strange comments about mapping “the coronavirus signal emanating from within the earth” and “organic, intelligent forces,” but he also blew through Netflix’s last cash injection on everything besides finishing the show he had promised. The director and the streamer are currently in a legal dispute over the money. The NYT says “A ruling is expected soon.”

The Witcher creator confirms everything Henry Cavill had been warning us about

When Henry Cavill exited The Witcher after three seasons despite reportedly being “committed to seven,” rumors swirled that it was the writer’s room’s disrespect of the source material that drove an unrepairable wedge between the two parties. Author Andrzej Sapkowski’s words at Vienna Comic-Con last week have all but confirmed that to be the case.

Sapkowski laughed when an interviewer asked him whether he was in active conversation with Netflix about the show. “Maybe, I gave them some ideas, but they never listened to me,” he said, following it up with an impersonation of an exec, “Who’s this? It’s a writer, it’s nobody.”

Cavill, who’s known to be a passionate fan of the books and video games, will be replaced by Liam Hemsworth going forward. Witcher showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich has previously mentioned having “a great relationship with Mr. Sapkowski,” which judging by the author’s statement doesn’t actually involve any substantial creative partnership.

When Henry Cavill exited from The Witcher, fans across the globe mourned the loss of his Geralt of Rivia. The Butcher of Blaviken was a formidable fighter, with Cavill really flexing his power and combat skills in the role. Now, his already much-maligned replacement, Liam Hemsworth, has to find a way to keep up with him.

One individual who worked with Cavill on the series was Netflix’s One Piece director Mark Jobst, who directed the series’ penultimate and final episode of the first season, Before a Fall and Much More. In a recent interview with We Got This Covered, the director praised Cavill’s fighting ability and how it allowed them to tell the story through the action sequences.

“When you get into something like The Witcher where I had a lot of big fight sequences in the pilot on the sword fight, I wanted to do a very big, long continuous action sequence in that, in order to tell the story that the Witcher is a really good fighter, and be bloody careful if you take him on because he can really do this. And we could do that because Henry Cavill is a really bloody good fighter.”

Being set in a medieval fantasy world, there is of course a lot of sword fighting, and Cavill’s deftness with a sword certainly came in handy, “When he wields that sword, man, you better know what you’re doing, because it’s heavy, and he won’t stop. And that was really exciting.”

Many fans felt that Cavill was perfect for the role, not only because he physically fits the role of a super-powered fighter, a role he has played more than once, but also because of his love for the source material and world-building created by Andrzej Sapkowski. Despite Cavill being the face of the series he and The Witcher parted ways. With the story left unfinished, Netflix had no alternative but to replace him, bringing on board the younger brother of Thor, Liam Hemsworth.

When the news was released that Hemsworth would be taking over the role, the internet immediately and collectively released its rage. You have to feel a little sorry for Hemsworth, who has yet to even prove whether or not he can take on the challenge, but for many, there is no replacing Cavill.

Though Hemsworth has been in plenty of action films himself, earning his breakout performance in The Hunger Games opposite Jennifer Lawrence as well as a number of other action films, he will really have his work cut out for him as he steps into the very large shoes left to him by Cavill.

With the ongoing strikes, there is no date yet set for the fourth season of The Witcher.

You may not know his name, but if you’re a fan of blockbuster-sized streaming shows, then you’ve almost certainly watched at least one episode of television directed by Marc Jobst.

The filmmaker’s previous small screen credits include stints on Netflix’s Daredevil, Luke Cage, The Punisher, Jupiter’s Legacy, and The Witcher, as well as Marvel’s Runaways and the beloved Hannibal, in addition Black Sails, Tin Star, Berlin Station, and Hemlock Grove, to name but a small few.

Jobst’s latest project sees him pulling double duty on one of the most-anticipated episodic exclusives of the year, helming the first two episodes and executive producing One Piece, Netflix’s adaptation of the best-selling manga series in history.

Premiering tomorrow, the epic fantasy adventure has piqued the curiosity and captured the imagination of fans and non-fans alike, with Jobst playing a pivotal part in developing the look, tone, style, and feel of the eight-episode run.

In an exclusive deep dive interview with We Got This Covered, we had the chance to speak to Jobst about building One Piece from the ground up, laying the groundwork for the rest of the directorial team, his experiences on The Witcher and Hannibal, his reflections on the single most famous and iconic episode of Daredevil that Born Again will have a tough time beating and much more, which you can check out below.

Marc would like to state that he supports both SAG and WGA in their pursuit of reaching a fair and equitable resolution to the respective strikes. In talking about his work – past and present – he does so with unequivocal support for the highly skilled crews that make up the different unions (SAG and WGA included) and believes all should be valued and recompensed for the contributions they make in bringing these series and films to life.

Unless I’m wrong, I’m speaking to the only director that’s gone from EastEnders to blockbuster Netflix shows.

Marc Jobst: Um, how did that happen?

Hopefully we’ll get to the bottom of that.

Marc Jobst: Yes, please. I don’t know. Yeah, I know. Crazy. Crazy, like crazy, crazy world. Follow your passion. Make it happen.

One Piece is the first time you’ve directed a pilot or first episode since The Paradise over a decade ago with the exception of reshoots on The Witcher’s opening chapter, but is it a markedly different experience from boarding an established series, or even a brand new show that’s got maybe a few episodes of its first season in the can?

Marc Jobst: Yeah, absolutely, it’s fundamentally different. You know, you’re setting up the whole look, feel, tone, cast, color, sound, music, everything, you’re able to bring all the experience that you’ve accrued over the many years working in storytelling, whether it’s in a theater where I started, or whether it’s in documentaries, to drama, to really start to try to create something that has its own identity.

And One Piece, I don’t know whether you knew One Piece before we made the show, but it’s a very, very particular kind of show. And so we’ve needed to kind of find a very particular form for it, or look for it. So it’s very fundamentally different to when you come in as a director to take on an episode for a show, which is, somebody else has already done that for you.

Sometimes an executive producer on a TV series can be little more than a ceremonial role, but having seen the whole season of One Piece, it’s clear that the style and visual tone you brought to the first two episodes carries on throughout the whole run, so was that always a key part in your ongoing involvement to ensure the aesthetic was there from beginning to end, because audiences are quickly going to realize it’s a very distinct show, visually.

Marc Jobst: Yeah, I’m really glad to hear you say that, thank you. Yes, it was very important that we maintain, you know, whilst giving directors the freedom to express themselves in the way that they felt they needed to and wanted to within their storylines, because the storylines are different, and they do take place in different lands within our world. You have to have some consistency. And there were two big challenges really.

One, is how do you translate what is essentially a 2D medium, the manga – or comic book as it were, or the anime – into something that works in live-action? And second of all, how do we reference the look of the manga with its, you know, big, strong closeups of eyes and low-angle wide-angle lenses and use that in live-action, and not make it feel willful, but still make it feel earned? And so one of the ways we did that to take that point first, is that we… I was a great fan of some lenses that I worked with, when I worked with Nicole Whitaker, the DOP on a show called Jupiter’s Legacy, when we did the origin story.

And I wanted to expand those lenses. And I love the lenses of The Favorite. They were super wide lenses, but they always had that fish-eye look to them. And when Nicole and I talked about it, I said, “Well, what if we could take that bend out of the lens and have those big wide lenses, and get super close focus so that we could get the one eye, but we could still get masses of location behind it? Or we could get that low angle and see the foot close in frame, but still have this huge world still within the same frame?”

So she had a relationship with the people who made the MiniHawk lenses, which is what we shot the origin story with. And I love the challenge of that. And so they created for us special lenses that had never been used before. Large format MiniHawks, and that sometimes allowed me to have the camera this close to the actors. So you were seeing a close up. But at the same time, you were seeing loads of location.

And that felt like we were getting a special look, something very true to the manga. Fundamentally, for me, I wanted to enter into this adventure with character. So we’re always coming into these landscapes with the character not doing what you traditionally do in television; which is you shoot your big wide shot, and then you come in closer to do your coverage, to do your closeups. I wanted to be on a closeup whilst we were going into these landscapes, I didn’t always have to go back and do the cut to the wide shot.

Do you have a preference directing pilots or opening episodes to put a stamp on the material from the beginning, set down a marker, and sort of write the songbook that everybody else sings from? Or is it more a case of trying to do the best with the chapters you’ve been given, regardless of where it slots into an overall timeline, episode or season-wise?

Marc Jobst: No, I love setting it up. I mean, I love the collaboration of my job. You know, it’s the ultimate team sport. You have brilliant scripts that are sent to you, or you read lots of scripts, and some scripts you think that’s a really beautiful script, but I’m not sure that I – Marc – have something very particular that I can give to this, you know, another a number of great directors could do great work on this.

And sometimes you get a script or you think, “Yeah, I’ve got something really specific that I, Marc Jobst, can put to this.” And so then you go after those scripts, and it always starts with the scripts. The scripts need to inspire everybody, really; me, the director, the actors, the costume makers, the props, the sets, all of that starts with a script. And so when you get a script that really inspires you, oh, man, absolutely.

I want to be in there chapter and verse, I want to be creating everything with the team. It’s not me alone. It’s the writer who’s the progenitor of the project. And it’s my job to understand what it is that they want from their scripts and to add value to it.

When it comes to something like One Piece, which isn’t just a blockbuster Netflix show but an adaptation of something that’s so well-known and beloved by a lot of people, is there any additional pressure on taking on the first couple of episodes to set the table and lay the groundwork for something that so many people are already pre-invested in, and desperate to finally see?

Marc Jobst: Yes, yes, sometimes, for sure. There were occasions when I woke up in the middle of the night and needed to get up and walk around a little bit and come back and go back to sleep. But, you know what, you always come back to the work. The work is the same whether you’re doing an episode within a series that’s already existing, or whether you’re setting something up.

You come back to: What’s the story? Who are the characters? What do they want? And how can I fulfill what it is that they will want in the most visual, exciting, truthful, authentic way? So if you start to think too much about the audience, you lose touch with your job, which is to realize the answers to those questions. What’s the scene about? What’s the story? And what do the characters want? Which goes back to the earlier point I was trying to make about adapting 2D to 3D.

When you’re putting a warm-blooded, human being actor to play three-dimensional characters, if you don’t give them truth, authenticity, and emotional life, then you can’t answer those questions of: What’s the story? What do they want? Because it’s two-dimensional. It doesn’t have any anchor in in a real human life. Does that make any sense?

Your episodes of Daredevil, The Witcher, and the Punisher to name but three are packed with memorable action sequences and set pieces, did that experience come in handy for One Piece? Because even across the first two episodes alone, there’s a lot of combat.

Marc Jobst: Yes, well, thank you for your kind comments. I mean, very much. So, some is what you do, the more action you shoot, you… if you interrogate your world, you look at what works and what doesn’t work, what you believe in what you don’t believe. And when I was shooting Daredevil one time, I was at dinner, at a restaurant sitting next to a lady who loved Daredevil. But she said to me, “Yes, I just fast forward all the action stuff, and I just go for the drama.”

And, you know, for somebody who’s prepared these action sequences and suffered in capturing some of these action sequences, to think that somebody would just fast forward that feels a loss to me, because so much goes into it. So it made me then start to think, “Okay, so we need to make these action sequences count.” And so they either have to say something about character, or they have to say something about story, such that when you get to the end of the action sequence, something has to change, so that you have to go back and watch the action sequence to understand it.

So that’s how I started to work on action, I tried to build the action sequences into a three-act structure, and work with my stunt team. So you have the three-act structure within your action sequence. Then when you get into something like The Witcher where I had a lot of big fight sequences in the pilot on the sword fight, I wanted to do a very big, long continuous action sequence in that, in order to tell the story that the Witcher is a really good fighter, and be bloody careful if you take him on because he can really do this. And we could do that because Henry Cavill is a really bloody good fighter.

And when he wields that sword, man, you better know what you’re doing, because it’s heavy, and he won’t stop. And that was really exciting. But the one shot then allowed me to cut the action sequence afterwards with Renfri, the woman he just made love to, and dictate the pace through cuts. Now, if you have a long action sequence, and you’re cutting all the time, the audience gets tired. And they lose their intimacy.

And of course, the big action sequence at the beginning of the sword fight was not as important as the fight with Renfri at the end. So I needed to somehow deliver that language and that grammar. So when it came to One Piece, I wanted to do the same. And we worked in a similar way. And we had a camera operator who was just dedicated to the action team. So they learned the choreography of the fight as much as the stunt people, and as much as the actors.

So the cameraman knew exactly where he had to be, in order for me to be able to do these big long action sequences that are also more playful. They’re more about the choreography, and the movement, and the dance than they are about the hit, which is much more Marvel and much more The Witcher.

Your first major American series after crossing the pond was Hannibal’s “Aperitivo”, was that a daunting first step at all seeing as the series had already gained a reputation for being one of the most visually daring and striking on television?

Marc Jobst: Yeah, it was a an incredible opportunity for me. Literally, I was flying out. It was my first American show. I was on my way out to Los Angeles to meet my agent, and so for the first people who were to represent me for the first time. When I landed, I got a text saying, “Would you get on the plane and go straight over to Toronto to shoot Hannibal?” And it’s kind of like, “Oh my God, that’s Mads Mikkelsen and Laurence Fishburne, of course I will!” And then you get on the plane, you think, “Oh, my God, it’s Mads Mikkelsen and Laurence Fishburne!”

And I’m going to be working with these guys who you start in this business to work with. So walking onto the floor, and seeing those people, and it’s a bit like the question that you asked about the fanbase and One Piece; the work sets you free. At the end of the day, you go back to the basic “what’s the story that we’re trying to tell? Who are the characters and what do they want?” And you go back to those things. And in my experience, in my many years of working in storytelling and directing, actors want you to be there.

And if they trust you, then it can be one of the most exciting relationships. And I found that with these people. Terrifying though it was, and definitely some deep breaths, certainly in those early days. But, you know, I want actors to feel safe enough to be able to jump, knowing that I will make sure they have a soft landing. So whatever they do want to try, however ridiculous it might be, they will always have soft landing.

I will always protect them, I will never let them do something which just doesn’t work. And once you start to build that rapport with your actors, it’s just like working with every actor, but sometimes better actors.

You’ve got a background as a performer on the stage, and a recurring theme across a lot of the shows you’ve worked on is that as well as being genre-driven shows, they’re full of incredible actors giving incredible performances. So the advantages of you coming in for just one or two episodes at a time, like you said, you’ve got the experience there to build that rapport for the actors, because that’s something you’ve experienced yourself as well as being a filmmaker.

Marc Jobst: Yes, I think so, I think directing in television, particularly high-end television, and most particularly high concept television, it’s very easy for directors to hide behind the technical, because they are usually quite technically demanding. And my view, I love actors. And my view has always been, it’s not worth the most incredible background, and production values, if at the end of the day you don’t have an authentic, truthful performance at the center of fame. You lose interest.

And so I’m all about the actor all the time. And I will always say to all my crew, “This space is not about you, it’s about the actors.” So when the actors come on to set, I want it to be their space, and I want them to feel safe, I don’t want people talking, or whispering, or laughing, or doing something else. This is their space, and we are here for them. And that’s really important.

And I think that’s one of the things that I’ve learned from working in the theater and having been an actor in theater where it’s exposing, you just need to put yourself in front of a camera, and do some intimate scene with authenticity and you feel exposed. So my job is to create a safe space for them to be more than they ever thought they possibly could be.

One of your Daredevil episodes “New York’s Finest” is arguably the most famous and iconic of the whole series given both the long exchanges between Charlie Cox’s Daredevil and Jon Bernthal’s Punisher, and the stairwell fight as well. But did it feel that way when you were making it, where you had an inkling that you were involved in something special based on both the choreography of that scene, the way it was put together, and having those two actors give those performances? Because it’s almost like a stage play.

Marc Jobst: Such a great question. Yeah, there was a lot of nervousness about that episode, in particular, because it was the first time the Punisher spoke. He had been involved in episode one and two, but it’s the first time in this episode where he spoke. And there was a lot of nervousness because he – exactly as you say, and it was almost verbatim what Marvel said to me – You know, “We’re worried about this feels a bit stagey, feels a bit like a stage play. We’re not sure how it’s going to work,” and all the rest of it.

And I think it’s a combination of me feeling very confident working with actors – I’m not afraid of them – and going back to the basics of the question. What’s the story? Who the character is and what do they want? You go to those basic things. And then when you start to work with actors of the caliber of Charlie Cox and Jon Bernthal, we were rehearsing, we were shooting from five o’clock in the afternoon until five o’clock in the morning, over a period of I don’t know, maybe six nights in Manhattan in the middle of the summer, super hot on the rooftops in Manhattan, and we started rehearsing that long two-hander between the two of them, and it builds in its temperature and its intensity.

And in a day of that kind of drama, you can really only shoot maybe six, seven, eight pages maximum at a day with these scenes that were like 14, 15, 16 pages long. So it means you would have to break the day, and then come back to it and find the same intensity. The next night, we started rehearsing it, we started shooting it. And then Charlie turned around at one stage to John and said, “Should we just do this all tonight?” And I’m saying, “But it’s like 15 pages long.” And they said, “Yeah, but it’s just the two of us.” And so I said, “Okay, do you know it?” Because very often, they just learn a day’s dialogue. And because they’re such incredible pros, of course, they knew it, because they’ve learned the whole thing. You can’t do part of the scene on one day, and then learn the second part of the scene for the next day.

If the arc is all about, “Do you believe in redemption? Or do you believe in revenge?” which is what the story was about, of course they knew it. So we all kind of turned to the crew and said, “Guys, you’ve got to be front-footed on this, on your tippy toes, because we are going for this. And we don’t know how to pick this up. If we get to page 12. And we haven’t finished page 13, 14, 15, we’re going to be in trouble. So please, everybody, take a banana, get some energy into your bodies, and we’re gonna go.” And we did. And by God, they did it in a day. And it was the most extraordinary energy to that scene. And I think it came across.

They were in it, they were in that scene. And we just wanted to capture it there. And then, the combination of being able to go back to the basics; What’s the story of who the character is? What do they want? Reminding them of that, reminding them of what the purpose of the scene is. Or where do we want to get to? What’s our true north? Do you believe in revenge? Do you believe in redemption? Once you’ve got that action.

With a couple of notable exceptions – like Tin Star and Berlin Station – the majority of your credits in America have tended to be big genre shows with high concepts, fantastical conceits, or a combination of the two. Was that a conscious decision to try and broaden your horizons, or was it more a case of taking on the best projects to suit both your sensibilities as a filmmaker and what you wanted your next step to be, personally and professionally?

Marc Jobst: The former. I really like to challenge myself, I often don’t go back to the series again. I want to challenge myself really fully on the show that I’m doing. But if you look at my work before, the genre shows, they were all very intense human dramas. There was either period dramas for the BBC, or there was things like Criminal Justice with Maxine Peake and Matthew Macfadyen.

You know, very intense human dramas. And in a way, what I’m working on at the moment is two feature films, both of which are much more about… One is one is a film about three homeless young people called Home, who ended up because of their family situation, on the streets homeless, and exploring what is home, and we use beatbox. And we use rap, and we use dance and movement, so a very, very different kind of movie.

And then the other is a Second World War movie, set at the end of the Second World War in Lithuania at a place called The Ninth Fortress, about six young lads who were captured by the Nazis, who then expedite and escape from the entire prison. True story. So in a sense, I’m kind of challenging myself back into those big human drama stories from which I originally came, I think.

Based on the viewing figures and ratings, even though there’s a lot of audience members out there who may not recognize your name, they’ve almost definitely seen your work at one time or another, a sentiment that’s also going to apply to One Piece. Is that a strange position for a filmmaker to find themselves in, or are you not interested in personal glory when the focus is always on delivering the best possible episode of whatever series you’re working on at any moment in time?

Marc Jobst: Again, I just want to tell a good story. I’m a character and story man. And if I’m given a script, in which I feel like the characters are exploring something that… You know, I came into storytelling because I fell in love with story and what story can do to us. Stories, to be to be grand for a moment, stories are how you teach us how to be human.

You put an obstacle in front of a character, and you’re trying to work out how that character is going to overcome the obstacle. And so long as I feel like the story that I’m telling has a character’s truth to that story, then I’m in. And I think that if people can watch that, and have a really good time, have a good laugh, have a good cry, put their hands over their eyes because it’s a little bit scary, and then feel a little breathless with some action, then that just fills me with huge pleasure. I wish I had more contact with the audience because obviously in theater, you get a direct, immediate response back.

And in terms of One Piece, the purpose of the story behind One Piece is really beautiful. It’s about friendship, it’s about loyalty, it’s about following your dreams. And it’s about being courageous, and letting people be who they want to be. And those are great. Those are great stories to tell. And I love the fact that I am I given the opportunity in my life to be able to do that, which is what I set out to do.

Your father was a cattle rancher, you studied agriculture, and your first TV job was as a researcher on a farming program, which got you into the BBC via yet another farming program, and eventually led you to where you are today. Would you call that fate, coincidence, serendipity, or a combination of all three?

Marc Jobst: Wow, what a great question. You know what, I think it’s one of the reasons why I loved One Piece, because One Piece is all about “believe in your dreams, and believe in who you are, dare to be who you are.” My dad was a cattle rancher. He was a cowboy. I was in Africa, and we rode the ranches. And I was an African cattle rancher, and in Colorado, did the branding, the de-horning, the castrating and all that.

I love the life because it’s really physical. But I always wanted to do what I do now. And it took me some daring to believe that I could be that person. Which is very different to what my dad was, and step by step, little by little, you dare to become the person that you really want to be.

And that’s the story of One Piece. So that that’s the journey of my life, really, is step by step believing that you can be what you want to be. And I would love to put that message out to anybody who might be interested in reading this interview. Dare to believe in your dreams.

Having been involved in some of the biggest and most popular shows of the last few years, are there any currently airing that you’ve either seen or heard about and thought, “I’d love to be a part of that one day”?

Marc Jobst: Yes, there are. But, as we’ve already talked about, I love setting stuff up, I love being able to be right at the very beginning, in hearing the writers talk about why they want to tell the story, why they’ve chosen this story to tell, how I can help them in realizing it into the visuals, to set those shows up to start again, to be the person who’s casting, working with the brilliant heads of department, the creatives, to create something fresh, that’s what really excites me. And in the single film movie world, to be able to be in control of one whole film, from beginning to end, is is also something that really, really excites me at this particular moment.

If you could single out one episode of one show that you’ve directed that you think would best sum up your work as a filmmaker, what would it be? Or is that like asking somebody to pick a favorite child?

Marc Jobst: Not completely, because some turn out… Well, hopefully all your children turn out well! But One Piece has been the combination of so much of my work. I would think I would cite two. I would cite “New York’s Finest,” because there’s some really lovely drama between two people.

There’s some great action, some big set pieces and all the rest of it, but also in One Piece, what One Piece has is also humor, and warmth. And it has a lot of heart. And I hope that the chemistry of the characters that we cast in One Piece makes the audience fall love with them as people, as much as fall in love with the show, because that way I think it becomes memorable for everybody.

And certainly for me, being able to use all my theater, all my documentary, all my writing skills, all my action skills to bring to a show as complicated as One Piece, I would have to say. I hope people like it, because I’m incredibly proud of it, and I will probably want people to see it as as the kind of work that I can do.

One Piece premieres on Netflix tomorrow, Aug. 31.

Truth be told, Marvel is in a stinky place right now, but it can majorly turn the tide against everyone if it casts its Reed Richards just right. And no, we are not talking about making John Krasinski the leader of the Fantastic Four. Please, that boat has sailed sir.

So, where were we? Oh yes, the problems Marvel has been facing — its films have been getting more flak than love, same goes for its TV shows, its grand plans for Phase Five and Six are up in the air (because of Jonathan Majors, MCU’s own shortcomings, and the two ongoing strikes) and above all, it has been trying desperately hard to edge out the solid competition. On one side, there is James Gunn and the refurbished DCU and on the other end is Netflix, which has been giving Disney Plus sufficient grief. 

Gunn practically cast DC’s version of the Fantastic Four by casting actors for his Superman: Legacy, despite announcing the film much, much later than Marvel’s declarations of bringing Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, and the Thing to the screen. And then there is Netflix, stealing Nimona from under Disney’s nose and faring much better than Disney Plus (even if it is just as busy canceling shows).

While plotting long-term plans to reclaim its past glory can take time, it has one ready to implement…

Just cast Henry Cavill as Reed Richards in Fantastic Four!

I know, he isn’t a popular choice to play Mister Fantastic, Henry Cavill has never expressed the desire to portray the character, nor does he look like Reed Richards (speaking for my comic-book authenticity supporters out there). But come on, haven’t we seen Cavill take on any role and blend into character like a chameleon?

Tell me you see why making him Richards would poke the air out of Marvel — and by association Disney’s — competitors?

Netflix has lost Cavill – the man who gave success to one of the streamer’s biggest shows and franchises. The news of his departure is already having side effects — The Witcher season three might have found love in the critics, but me and you both know that it is the audience that majorly keeps a show afloat and all the mental and emotional turmoil over seeing Cavill go has already hurt the show.

As for the former DCEU, it had swift make-ups and breakups with the actor, only for the new DCU to reel him back in as Superman and dump him all over again. Gunn went ahead and dashed away any lingering hope of his return by casting David Corenswet as DCU’s new Superman. The new co-head of DC Films has been attracting flak for many reasons — for sidelining the Snyderverse, praising the disastrous The Flash, casting his usual favorites in the DCU, and the one that will never stop getting him hate — keeping Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, and more but removing Henry Cavill.

At this point, Henry Cavill has a strong fan following and he has more than earned the acclaim. By casting him as Reed Richards in Fantastic Four — one of the most talked about and hyped Marvel projects for years now — MCU will not only win itself the perfect actor, but also rid itself of the blame of making a gilded cage for its stars. Unlike the drowning careers of Tom Holland, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, etc whose popularity hinges on the MCU, Cavill is already a phenomenon all by himself. 

And don’t forget, Cavill as Marvel’s Reed Richards would also mean MCU snagging the chance DCU, Gunn, and Netflix foolishly lost. It will appease angry and disappointed Marvel fans and win disgruntled Netflix and DCU detractors. The studio doesn’t need to be told twice that it is fast losing the trust its massive fandom once had in it and now would be the time to start making amends, especially the one that starts with H and ends with L.

With George R.R. Martin being nowhere near finishing the Game of Thrones books, fans are starting to look toward other stories to recreate that Westeros magic for them.

There’s no denying that the Game of Thrones book series is one of the most prominent works of modernist high fantasy to come out in the past couple of decades. Due to the story’s sense of intrigue, amazing characterization, morally grey narrative, and intricate worldbuilding inspired by real historical events, A Song of Ice and Fire is now among the best works in literature, and in no small part thanks to HBO’s overwhelmingly popular live-action adaptation.

Well, since that television show ended abysmally and George R.R. Martin is still struggling to bring The Winds of Winter — the sixth and penultimate book in the saga — to completion, perhaps it’s high time that we looked at other great works in the speculative storytelling spectrum to fill the arid void left by the unfinished saga of the Seven Kingdoms. 

We’ve already gone through another similar list in the form of the top 10 books to read if you’re a Lord of the Rings fan, but if you find that George R.R. Martin’s more contemporaneous style is more to your liking, then these are the books that you should pick up as soon as you can. And who knows? Maybe you’ll enjoy some of them even more than you did A Song of Ice and Fire.

10. The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny

Roger Zelazny was one of the most important fantasy writers in history, having influenced many of his successors, notably Neil Gaiman. The Chronicles of Amber, his magnum opus, is a 10-book series taking place in two opposite worlds, Amber and Chaos. The plot mostly follows members of the royal Amber family, who can traverse the worlds between Amber and Chaos — called Shadows — and inflict their will on reality to change it.

As the story progresses, you realize that the series is about the political intrigue sitting at the heart of the Amber court, and how each family member is vying for the throne. It also depicts the struggles and differences of relatives, similar to the familial-drama backdrop of Game of Thrones.

9. The Lightbringer Series by Brent Weeks

The Lightbringer Series is a collection of five fantasy books that start with 2010’s best-seller The Black Prism and end with 2019’s The Burning White. Brent Weeks centers his world around a very peculiar form of magic that’s derived from light, with each light turning into a substance called Luxin. 

While that doesn’t sound similar to Game of Thrones and its subtle magic system at all, Lightbringer’s fictional world and political landscape feature the same sort of complicated intrigue as our main character Gavin Guile and his brother Andross Guile — influential people in their own right — navigate this increasingly treacherous world.

8. The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson

Thomas Covenant tells the story of a man who is transported from the real world to a fictional realm called the Land. There, he has to fight off the evil Lord Foul and save the universe from destruction — but though the premise sounds like something out of a J.R.R. Tolkien book, Stephen R. Donaldson actually sets out to tell a very grimdark tale full of morally ambiguous characters and even more divisive ethical choices.

The main character, Thomas Covenant, suffers from leprosy, and his resentment for how the world has treated him is the lynchpin that ties the narrative together. This might be a challenging read due to its length (10 books) but trust me when I say that the destination will be well worth the journey undertaken.

7. The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell

While The Saxon Stories by Bernard Cornwell isn’t strictly fantasy, neither is George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books, if you take away the mysterious ice zombies and Dany’s dragons. The Last Kingdom is a work of historical fiction that deals with the creation of England in the ninth century, with characters like Alfred the Great and King Guthrum playing an important part in the narrative.

The series essentially deals with the politics of Saxon Britain, and how Christianity came together to prevail against the Viking onslaught. Since Game of Thrones also has a heavy focus on historical applicability (Martin himself has said that War of the Roses inspired the rivalry between Westerosi houses), you could find a lot of similarities between the two works. 

The Last Kingdom also has an acclaimed live-action adaptation, which you can currently watch in its entirety on Netflix.

6. The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski

The Witcher saga is in no way comparable to A Song of Ice and Fire in terms of scale alone, but despite being a very character-centric tale with only a handful of protagonists, Andrzej Sapkowski masterfully delves into the politics of his fictional world and uses them as a tool to raise the stakes.

In terms of overall tone, The Witcher is also a step away from traditional high fantasy storytelling, opting instead to offer a new interpretation of grim folklore and morally grey characters. Sitting through this tale from the POV of the stoic Geralt of Rivia — a monster hunter by profession and a philosopher by diffidence — is every bit as rewarding as watching Tyrion Lannister or any number of Game of Thrones characters musing over the current state of the world.

5. The Dark Tower by Stephen King

Stephen King isn’t a writer of fantasy, but the one time he dabbled his feet in the genre created the timeless masterpiece known as The Dark Tower. This story follows a character named Roland Deschain, known as the last gunslinger, who has to traverse a hostile world in search of the titular Dark Tower. In this journey, he faces an adversary in the form of the Man in Black, who is an antagonistic figure in the Stephen King multiverse.

The Dark Tower loans a lot of tropes from other genres like sci-fi and Western, but at its heart, Roland’s journey is a study of human nature and how that nature affects the formation of different societies and creeds. The 7-book series also features a lot of dark themes, so the mental demons Roland has to conquer will be right up your alley if you’re a fan of modern fantasy.

4. The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb

Few authors have managed to leave such a lasting impact, one that influences not only their peers, but also the next generation of creatives. Robin Hobb is one such novelist, and her work on The Farseer Trilogy has cemented her name among the greats in this genre.

If you love the political maneuvering and backstabbing inherent to Game of Thrones and its worldbuilding, then you’re going to love Farseer, because this is essentially a political story at its core. The main character is FitzChivalry Farseer, a bastard of the Farseer line, who has to meander his way through court intrigue and try to keep his head above water. FitzChivalry is also a king’s man through and through, so his conflicting loyalties make for some superb drama.

3. Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson

Malazan is probably the single most challenging series to get into even for the fantasy bookworms. Do you know how Dark Souls is famously recognized as the toughest video game out there? Well, Malazan fans describe Steven Erikson’s books as “the Dark Souls of literature,” and not without good reason.

The 10-book series takes place in one of the most ambitious fantasy worlds ever conceived after the release of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. The host of characters is almost innumerable, the intricate plotlines are daunting to keep track of, and even the narrative doesn’t explain anything as you move through it. “Steven Erikson doesn’t hold your hand” has turned into a litany for Malazan fans, so you may be wondering: Why on Earth would you even pick it up?

Well, because if you manage to wrap your head around the extremely complicated plot, then Malazan will probably turn into one of the best — if not the best — experiences you’ve had in the world of speculative fiction, and across any medium. And in terms of dark narrative developments or themes, let’s just say that Erikson will put George R.R. Martin’s most nightmarish musings to shame, and leave it at that.

2. Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay

Guy Gavriel Kay was also a contender in our Lord of the Rings list, and the reason for that is simple. The obscure fantasy novelist is the most underrated author in the history of this genre, but his work has influenced many fellow worldbuilders, including Martin.

Tigana is a story set in a fictional world and takes place mostly on the Peninsula of the Palm. Our heroes are a band of protagonists who are seeking to uncover their lost history, learning in this pursuit that much of what they knew about their identity were falsehoods spun about by the sorcerer that conquered their land. Tigana has the prose of Tolkien and the grey subtlety of George R.R. Martin, making it the perfect read for fans of both series.

1. The First Law by Joe Abercrombie

If there’s one person who can be relied upon to write grimdark fantasy as well as George R.R. Martin does, and even move beyond what Game of Thrones has accomplished in its lifetime, it’s the Lord Grimdark himself, Joe Abercrombie.

The First Law is a trilogy of books that’s known for its unrelentingly gritty plot, featuring a cast of complex characters who are swept into a maelstrom of political intrigue and chaotic determinism. The First Law itself is a principle that dictates the use of magic comes at a cost, and that is also true of every plot thread Abercrombie weaves together in his fantasy tale. If you were to ask fantasy fans in a survey to determine the book saga closest to A Song of Ice and Fire in tone and style, most would probably go with Lord Grimdark. This is, without a doubt, the best book for Game of Thrones fans to get over their Seven Kingdoms hangup.

With its third season officially in the rear-view, the Witcher conversation is finally starting to simmer down. 

Fans of the Netflix fantasy are still upset, of course, but they might just have accepted its fate. With Henry Cavill out the door, the show’s future feels unsteady, and many people are already writing it off — and comparing it to another fantasy powerhouse that fizzled out.

That’s not to say the entire Witcher property is doomed, however. Remember that Netflix already drew criticism for altering the original story, which was born of Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski’s brilliant creativity. News that the story will continue — and without Netflix’s meddling — might just be the dose of hope Witcher fans needed in this dark hour. 

Or they can just return to some old fantasy favorites, and reexamine their roles in the stories we grew up on. We’ve talked Harry Potter to absolute death over the last few years, but there are still discussions to be had. Or maybe skip the conflicted Potter franchise and just laugh at the exhausting dude-bro behavior of one of the richest men on the planet. 

The Witcher’s uninspired third season prompts comparisons to another fantasy disappointment

Look, Game of Thrones still holds a special place in my heart, but I haven’t been able to return to what was once among my favorite shows since it ended in 2019. Its final season — and in particular its final arc — was simply too disappointing, and that disappointment is feeling familiar to fans of Netflix’s The Witcher adaptation.

They’re seeing their own future in us poor, burned Game of Thrones holdouts, and it’s not pretty. There’s also a major difference between the two releases, and one that makes backlash to The Witcher all the more frustrating. Game of Thrones only failed when it ran out of source material and was forced to pave its own way, but The Witcher doesn’t have this problem. There’s a wealth of content out there for Netflix to adapt, and its decision to completely ignore the story its adaptation is based off is an easily avoidable mistake the streamer nonetheless insists on making.

Even as Andrzej Sapkowski teases more Witcher content 

With faith in The Witcher all but spent, the show’s future seems predetermined. It’s already confirmed for a fourth season, but without strong viewership — which it will almost certainly lack — the show’s fate is all but sealed. Which may make a different approach to The Witcher story much more advisable, for fans of monsters and monster hunters. 

Instead of putting time into an already-doomed show, why not simply turn to the books it’s based on? The story’s original author — Andrzej Sapkowski — is even coming out with fresh content, which leaves even new fans with plenty to look forward to. It may be a safer bet than relying on Netflix for our fantasy needs. 

Harry Potter fans rehash Snape’s hero status

Despite its controversy magnet of a creator, Harry Potter remains one of the most impactful franchises out there. It’s woven into countless childhoods and, even as adults, many of the story’s fans struggle to let it go. 

Instead, they do their best to distance themselves from J.K. Rowling’s damaging rhetoric, ensure they don’t line her wallet with new purchases, and instead fall back on the existing content for yet another reexamination. And thus, the Snape discussion inevitably rears its head, as newcomers and returning fans once again rehash his status as a hero… or a villain… or, perhaps… both?

Elon Musk is gatekeeping Lord of the Rings now

Elon Musk, stay in your lane. Whether that lane be tanking Tesla, tanking Twitter, or tanking your marriages, we don’t want you over here in our fantasy business. And certainly not The Lord of the Rings, the shining beacon of the genre, and a property that serves, in many ways, as an antithesis of Musk’s… well, everything. 

I say all this because it was recently revealed that Musk, upon meeting his former girlfriend Grimes, immediately put her Lord of the Rings knowledge to the test. Like so many gatekeeping neckbeards before him, he insisted — upon learning that Grimes was a fan — that she pass his test to prove her LOTR knowledge.

The Witcher may have dominated the Netflix charts in its heyday, but its six-week reign was usurped by another highly-anticipated series. While the gritty fantasy tale was still able to hold onto a position of power in the rankings, it still wasn’t enough to defeat a title with a more wholesome premise.

Overtaking The Witcher this week is Heartstopper season two. This Netflix rom-com made its debut on the Top 10 charts in second place after receiving over 6.1 million views and having over 28.5 million hours watched. While The Witcher did dominate in some areas, it couldn’t compete with the number of views Heartstopper enjoyed after the former’s viewership dropped by 2.5 million last week.

The Witcher season three did its best to bid a final farewell to Henry Cavill’s tenure as Geralt before the role is passed down to Liam Hemsworth, but the reception for the latest season saw a drop in critical reception (via Rotten Tomatoes). Not to mention the poor audience score of 20 percent and how each episode listed on the IMDb rating sits below 5 stars. But despite its poor ratings, it still managed to stay on the charts for six consecutive weeks, indicating that there is still some interest in the series before season 4 drops sometime in 2025.

Heartstopper season two continues where season 1 left off, while also exploring the relationships of other characters in the series. This fresh new batch of episodes was praised by fans and critics alike, receiving a certified fresh critics rating of 96 percent and an audience score of 98 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. This show has won numerous awards since 2022, and it will be interesting to see if the second season will receive the same acclaim.

So, whether you want to watch a thrilling fantasy drama or a heartwarming romance story, both shows are available to stream on Netflix.

Successfully maintaining the level across multiple seasons is an underrated, understated feat in the world of television. Not many shows, and least of all in the current media landscape, can deliver the goods in a consistent recurrent manner. They either bow out before running out of gas or, in the case of the two fantasy shows getting singled out in a recent Reddit thread, unceremoniously plummet after a good start.

The Witcher, whose third season has recently made its way to Netflix, was a massive hit in its first season – a success that rippled through season 2, before fizzling out in parallel with the exit of its main star Henry Cavill. While the fantasy epic didn’t even manage to hold out longer than a couple of years, its downward trajectory is drawing comparisons to one of the most successful television shows of the century, which, unfortunately, was also unable to stick the landing.

On Reddit, those still tuning in to the Netflix live-action adaptation of the beloved book series and video game are calling the show “a forgettable tale” that didn’t live up to its potential. Confusing, dragged-out storylines and the lack of monster-fighting action are some of the causes behind the show’s failure, according to one user.

In the comments, many share the same sentiment and are even experiencing déjà vu.

There is one major difference, though. Game of Thrones only lost its way when it could no longer fall back on the books written by George R.R. Martin. That is not the case with The Witcher, whose producers have intentionally chosen to drift from the source material, which eventually led to the fallout with Cavill.

A lot of fans lost interest in the Netflix show when it veered into the same sort of political playground that worked so well for Game of Thrones, but which the writers couldn’t exactly replicate this time. “Walmart GoT” is a tough tagline.

Stick to the monster fighting next time, Netflix. Not even Game of Thrones could make it to the finish line without a novelist like R. R. Martin leading the way.

DCEU‘s most fervent gatekeepers give James Gunn a lot of flak for rebooting the cinematic universe under a new guise and a whole different set of actors, but it seems that even his predecessor Zack Snyder was partial to such a plan under the right circumstances.

In other news, the fandoms of Star Wars and The Witcher have come together to give us the ultimate crossover event, and it’s now turned into something that folks really want to see out there. Lastly, a Doctor Who star has compared the upcoming 60th-anniversary special to some of the scariest modern Who stories from David Tennant’s era, once again fueling the hype machine that’s driving every Whovian insane with anticipation.

Check out all of these beats in our sci-fi roundup down below.

SnyderVerse stans dismayed to learn the director was also planning a reboot of his own

People can hate on James Gunn all they want, but it seems that their favorite DC creative was also planning to reboot everything and start from scratch. In a recent interview, long-time Zack Snyder collaborator Jay Oliva revealed that in an alternate universe where Warner Bros. allowed Snyder to continue his cinematic universe, we’d have a complete reset at some point thanks to the Flashpoint arc.

“At the ending of Zack’s Darkseid quadrilogy, or whatever, we would end up with a Justice League Unlimited version of the SnyderVerse,” he said. “And then you flip it. You do Flashpoint Paradox. Everybody who’s friends are now enemies, and it’s a world that you don’t want to live in. You can reboot the universe and introduce a new cast that way. Because after 10 years, the actors need to go onto something else.”

Star Wars and The Witcher finally cross over, but not in the way you’d imagine

Some geeky enthusiasts in the Star Wars community, who also happen to love The Witcher, have come up with the perfect crossover between the two IPs. Did you like the Gwent mini-game in Wild Hunt? Well, you can now imagine the extremely popular card game with Star Wars characters and in the galaxy far, far away setting. 

Fans have designed the perfect deck and come up with all sorts of alternatives to the main game, and the result is spectacular. Now, we really want Disney and CD Projekt to collaborate and create Gwent: The Star Wars Card Game.

Speaking of Star Wars, here are 10 iconic Obi-Wan Kenobi quotes from across the years

Obi-Wan Kenobi is one of the most iconic characters in Star Wars history. Even though the universe George Lucas created so long ago has expanded into countless books, dozens of video games, tens of other adaptations of different types, and many other forms of media since, there has never been a character as compelling and iconic as the old Ben Kenobi.

Now, to pay tribute to Alec Guinness and Ewan McGregor’s wonderful portrayal of the Jedi Master, we’ve decided to rank his top quotes. These lines of dialogue not only highlight why Obi-Wan is one of the wisest mentor figures in fiction, but also why he’s the ultimate protagonist in any Star Wars media.

Doctor Who star teases David Tennant’s upcoming episodes as some of the scariest material to ever come out of the show in its 60-year history

The upcoming 60th anniversary of Doctor Who is featuring the return of David Tennant and Catherine Tate in a duo after more than a decade. That we know, but those two aren’t the only characters who’ll be filling up that runtime in November. One of the newcomers Yasmin Finney, portraying a character called Rose, recently had a chat with Elle and revealed that these episodes incorporate some of the scariest things to come out of Doctor Who since its return in 2005.

“You can look forward to a lot of scary things. I think when you think of Doctor Who, you think of the scariest episode, the Weeping Angels. It’s the scariest episode in history and the most popular,” she said. “I think in this series, I was scared when I saw some of the things. It’s shivers down your spine. But, I can’t tell you too much. What I can say is it is going to be full of scares, full of laughs, full of all of it.”

As if the wait for the special episodes wasn’t grueling enough.

After more than a decade of absence, The Witcher is finally returning to the medium that gave it birth, with creator Andrzej Sapkowski confirming that a new book set in the Continent (and quite possibly featuring Geralt of Rivia) might arrive as early as next year.

These have been dark days for The Witcher fandom. With the live-action adaptation dropping the ball so hard that folks have no choice but to go back to CD Projekt’s video game trilogy or Sapkowski’s own books to find a semblance of comfort, many were beginning to wonder if this was the beginning of the end for Geralt and co. in pop culture.

Well, the author’s new announcement should be answer enough for everyone. Sapkowski recently appeared on a Ukrainian podcast called Fantastic Talk and confirmed (per Redanian Intelligence) that he’s indeed writing another Witcher book.

“I don’t like to talk about what I’m doing until I finish doing it,” he said. “Because until I finish it, I don’t think it exists. But since I always make exceptions for Ukrainians, I will do it this time too. Yes, I’m working on a new book about The Witcher and quite diligently. It may take a year, but no longer.”

Will this be a sequel to Tower of the Swallow or another prequel like Season of Storms? And more importantly, is Geralt making a return? We’d assume that “The Witcher” always refers to Geralt of Rivia, so the character is likely to be coming back from his seemingly conclusive and final ending, after all.

Forget about the Netflix adaptation, folks. Sapkowski himself is coming back to pick up the pieces.