Henry Cavill’s exit from Netflix’s big fantasy show The Witcher may have looked like the end of the franchise for Netflix, but new reports show the company is actually spending more than ever on the next season. Season 4, which will star Liam Hemsworth as the Witcher, will cost about $27 million per episode, making the total cost of the season a huge $216 million.
This cost information comes from both Forbes and the Witcher fan site Redanian Intelligence.
For earlier seasons, the first season of The Witcher cost about $92.5 million, while the second almost doubled at $176.3 million.
Even Cavill’s last season as Geralt of Rivia cost only $175 million. Now, with only two seasons left, Netflix seems to be going all out with spending, even though Season 3 got poor reviews and there was a big casting change.
Other Witcher projects like Blood Origin cost about $95.7 million, while the spin-off “The Rats: A Witcher’s Tale” added about $20 million. At first The Rats: A Witcher’s Tale was planned as a series after its footage was filmed, but later Netflix decided to cut it down into a TV movie. Adding up every Witcher movie and show with known budgets, Netflix has spent a total of $720 billion on the franchise, not including the two anime movies and the final season of the main show.
Based on Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels, The Witcher was adapted for Netflix by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich and follows Geralt of Rivia, a mutated man who hunts monsters for money. Season 4 of The Witcher will premiere on Netflix on October 30.