The viewership figures are in for the opening weekend of The Witcher Season 4, and they’re not looking strong, with the show dropping by 50% in its first week compared to the previous chapter’s debut.
The Witcher TV adaptation has faced a series of issues ever since Geralt star Henry Cavill announced he’d be leaving to pursue new projects. Seasons 4 and 5 were already confirmed, and so the team had no choice but to find a new Geralt to take his place.
Liam Hemsworth stepped in, with Season 4 marking his debut as the White Wolf. But despite his worthy portrayal, the latest chapter has the lowest Rotten Tomatoes scores, earning a respective 58% and 19% from critics and audiences.
Similarly, viewership has taken a serious hit compared to previous seasons.
The Witcher fans “shocked” by Season 4 viewership
According to Netflix’s latest data, The Witcher Season 4 earned 7.4 million views in its first week, a nearly 52% drop compared to Season 3. The viewership figures for the first weeks are as follows (aside from Season 1, where the data is unavailable):
- The Witcher Season 2 – 18.5 million views
- The Witcher Season 3 – 15.2 million views
- The Witcher Season 4 – 7.3 million views
- The Witcher: Blood Origin – 4.6 million views
Samba TV, which offers television viewership data in US households, also shared some telling figures. “The first episode of Season 4 was watched by 35% less households than Season 3 (577k vs. 885k),” it wrote.
The Witcher fans have been left surprised, not by the figures themselves but because they’re not even lower. “I’m shocked it’s only 35%. As someone who watched the first three seasons, I had zero interest in watching,” said one.
Another said, “Honestly those aren’t bad numbers for Season 4. It’s not as high, but it’s still quite a lot of views.”
However, one pointed out, “It’s bad numbers for a show that cost $27 million per episode – which is slightly behind Stranger Things for example, as a similarly cost TV show. That’s catastrophic viewing figures for something so expensive.”
Others are simply feeling sympathetic, including this person who said, “Honestly, I just feel bad for the cast. This show was all the rage when Season 1 launched, they can’t be happy seeing the direction it’s taken in the ensuing years.”
What the The Witcher Season 4 viewership drop means
Season 4’s figures mean it’s behind Nobody Wants This Season 2, which not only earned 9.4 million views during the same time period, but the rom-com show was in its second week.
There is one detail worth mentioning: Season 4 dropped on Thursday, 30 October, and the date is from October 27 to November 2, meaning it only had four days to build numbers. However, given it’s the premiere, it should have drawn in bigger crowds.
Especially as Season 2 dropped on a Friday, giving it one less day than Season 4. Season 3 also dropped on a Thursday and was split into two parts, meaning it had a shorter runtime.
Will it impact Season 5?
No, since Season 5 was confirmed early on and filmed back-to-back with Season 4, the show will go on – viewership drop or not. However, it may have an impact on any potential spinoffs.
Netflix has backed previous efforts to expand The Witcher TV universe with mixed results. The 2022 prequel miniseries The Witcher: Blood Origin struggled to attract audiences and was widely panned by critics.
The animated film Nightmare of the Wolf, meanwhile, fared better, earning a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score from the critics, but Sirens of the Deep wasn’t received so well.
Another spinoff, The Rats – originally announced as a full TV series following Ciri and the titular group of young outlaws introduced in Season 3 – was reshaped into a feature-length movie, before being quietly released on the same day as Season 4.
With The Witcher Season 5 already confirmed as the series’ last, it’s unclear whether Netflix plans to continue the Continent’s story beyond Geralt’s arc.
Last month, Dexerto spoke with showrunner Lauren Schmidt-Hissrich, who said while there’s plenty of potential for future spinoffs, she’s ready to take a step back from the franchise.
“By the time we wrap Season 5 fully, it will have been nine years of my life. I think there are so many more stories to be told in The Witcher universe, truly. But I also think you have to step back and accept gracefully, what is the end of this story that we’ve been telling?” she told us.
“Are there more stories? Maybe. But this one has to end at this point, so I think it’s a nice time for all of us to step back a little bit.”
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