The Witcher: Season 3 Has Lost Ground On Netflix's Top 10 - What's Got It Beat?

All is not well on the Continent.

For a while, it seemed as though "The Witcher" could be Netflix's answer to "Game of Thrones." It's a high-concept fantasy series based on best-selling books featuring one of the most popular actors of the current era — Henry Cavill. The first two seasons were big hits for the streaming platform, with Netflix renewing it up to Season 4. The first five episodes of Season 3 debuted on the service on June 29, and if the Top 10 is any indication, viewers are already tuning out.

While Netflix hasn't released viewership numbers for "The Witcher" Season 3, Volume 1 yet, it's already been dethroned from the top spot despite a lack of any real competition. The new king of Netflix at the moment is Tom Segura, whose new stand-up special, "Sledgehammer," has claimed the number one position. Segura has several stand-up specials exclusive to Netflix, so he's clearly popular. But "The Witcher" is a flagship series for the platform, and the fact it couldn't hang onto the top spot for very long suggests fans are over it to an extent. And that sentiment likely isn't going away with Season 3, Volume 2 and beyond.

"The Witcher" has faced an uphill battle in good publicity ever since it was announced Season 3 would be the final outing with Henry Cavill as Geralt. Starting in Season 4, the character would be played by Liam Hemsworth, and fans haven't been happy about it. Thanks to social media, they're letting their frustrations known that this isn't their "Witcher." Look no further than Rotten Tomatoes, where "The Witcher" Season 3 has an 86% positive rating from critics but a paltry 33% from audiences. 

A similar phenomenon can be found on Metacritic, with critics seemingly enjoying the latest outing while fans gave it an average user score of 2.6 out of 10. It's unclear if fans genuinely think the new season is bad or if they're just making a point about Cavill's departure, but it seems plenty of people are making their opinions known by trashing the show and refusing to tune in. 

Netflix appears aware of the decreased viewership and tweeted various pictures of the message: "Yes, he's still Geralt in Season 3." Netflix clearly alluding to Cavill's involvement in "The Witcher" Season 3 comes across as the streaming platform trying to utilize online sentiment to its advantage. Unfortunately, it comes across as a desperate bid to get people to tune in one last time before Hemsworth takes over as Geralt. If people are this passionate when Cavill's still involved with the series, it doesn't bode well for what will happen with Season 4 and anything after that (if Netflix decides to renew beyond that).