Henry Cavill fans have been dealt a few blows in recent years, as the actor has stepped away from two of his most iconic roles. Now a new report has suggested that one of his other big franchise projects could be on shaky ground. Following Cavill’s exit from The Witcher, and the confirmation that his time as Superman was at an end, one big project seemed to be opened up by his sudden availability: Prime Video’s Warhammer 40K. However, according to details shared by IGN, even this dream project of Cavill’s could end up causing more heartache and disappointment.
Warhammer 40K was announced last year, with Cavill sharing his excitement about not only starring in, but executive producing his “dream role.” While he has spoken on several occasions about the project, precise details have been scarce, and that could cause a problem for the production of the fantasy game-based series if things don’t get moving very soon.
According to an annual financial report from Games Workshop, who owns the world of Warhammer 40K in all its forms, the deal currently in place with Amazon Studios gives them the exclusive rights to develop a TV series based on the table-top RPG. However, the devil is in the details, and it seems that the contract has some very specific time constraints attached to it. The long and short of it is that Amazon has until December 2024 to draft and agree on “guidelines for the films and television series to be developed” before the deal is off the table.
While this doesn’t seem to be too much of a problem, especially with avid fan Cavill behind the project, the crux of the matter is a further caveat included in the contract, which states that projects can only move ahead if “creative guidelines are mutually agreed between Games Workshop and Amazon.” What this means in short, is that Amazon has just five months left to get their plans together and manage to please Games Workshop with what they pitch.
Henry Cavill Could Make or Break Warhammer 40K
While there could be plenty of heated moments and compromises needed to make Warhammer 40K a reality, with Cavill backing the project, it seems to be in the best hands. If there is one thing that fans have learned over the last several years from his time working on The Witcher, the actor is very committed to roles that he knows and loves.
Ultimately, Cavill’s role in The Witcher came to an end following many disputes about the direction Netflix took the show compared to the story told in the novels of Andrzej Sapkowski, and the video games that were spawned by his tales of Geralt of Rivia. Cavill initially joined The Witcher fully committed to a five-season plan, but by the time Season 3 was ready to roll out, the actor had already announced that he was leaving before the arrival of Season 4. There have been many reports of Cavill being unhappy with the changes made to the source material, and while exact specifics have never been fully revealed, there is enough information out there to make an educated guess at the reason for Cavill’s displeasure as a huge fan of the books.
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With this in mind, it is unlikely that Cavill would be involved in any Warhammer 40K project that did not completely honor the game lore on which it is based. While five months does not seem like a long time in the world of entertainment for all parties to come to an agreement on how the series and other projects should proceed, it may be more than enough for Cavill’s passion for the project to win over Games Workshop with whatever pitch Amazon puts forward.