The first batch of episodes from The Witcher Season 3 finally dropped on Netflix after a year and a half of waiting from fans of the series. The continuation of Geralt’s monster hunting escapades also marks the final season for Henry Cavill, as his journey as the character ends after Season 3 and the role is passed to Liam Hemsworth. Now that it’s been a week since the first five episodes came out, viewership numbers are here and it looks like some audiences are tapping out now that Cavill is set to make an exit.
The Witcher Season 3 debuted at No. 1 of Netflix’s TV (English) charts with a reported 73 million hours viewed, per the streaming service’s Tudum stats. But per additional numbers from Samba TV (via Deadline) measuring U.S. households trends across the five episodes, fewer people are watching the show than last season and attention dwindles as the season goes on. Check them out:
| Episode 1 “Shaerrawedd” | 1.1 million |
| Episode 2 “Unbound” | 893,000 |
| Episode 3 “Reunion” | 750,000 |
| Episode 4 “The Invitation” | 602,000 |
| Episode 5 “The Art of the Illusion” | 505,000 |
Now, 1.1 million U.S. households means a lot of people tuning into The Witcher, but compared to the source’s numbers from last season, it’s not as impressive. Samba TV reported a 15 percent decrease of the premiere episode, with the Season 2 debut episode earning 1.3 million for the same window of time. Additionally, when it came to Season 2, all eight of the episodes were drawing over 1 million U.S. households each during its first week on Netflix. In the table above, the numbers indicate a significant drop per episode as audiences get into the season.
Of course, the data set is only counting audiences who live in the United States. It’s very much possible global audiences are completely hooked on the series better than ever before. Since the season came out, critics have shared some disappointment and fans were not pleased to see the series’ promo throwing Liam Hemsworth under the bus with a viral statement in ads across the world reading: “Yes, He’s still Geralt in Season 3.”
Henry Cavill has been highly regarded as a practically perfect Geralt during his tenure on the series, so it’s absolutely possible audiences are giving up on the show early. Aside from the Henry Cavill of it all, The Witcher can be a rather dense series and over a year is a rather long time for fans to wait in between seasons.
Perhaps they are going back over Season 2, or waiting for the full season to drop before committing to the watch? CinemaBlend has you covered on that front with what things to remember before watching Season 3. The first five episodes are available to stream now with a Netflix subscription and the second half of Season 3 is headed our way on July 27.
