It’s an interesting time for fans of Netflix’s monster-hunting fantasy show The Witcher. Later this month we’ll finally see The Witcher: Blood Origin, the first ever live-action spinoff of the series. But the incoming prequel has been overshadowed somewhat by the shocking news that Henry Cavill, who plays Geralt of Rivia in the mothership show, will be hanging up his twin swords and white wig after season 3. Liam Hemsworth will play the role of Geralt starting in season 4.
So far, no one attached to the production has commented on the switch beyond Cavill and Hemsworth, but those floodgates are starting to open. Joey Batey, who plays the bard Jaskier, is the only familiar face from the main Witcher show who will be appearing in Blood Origin, and he has some thoughts.
Joey Batey will miss Henry Cavill on The Witcher: “We’ve spent the past four years carving out these stories”
Reliable Witcher scoop site Redanian Intelligence reports that in a now-deleted tweet from Culture Crave, actor Batey revealed that he had spoken to both Cavill and Hemsworth about the transition. “I spoke to Henry last week, we text a fair bit,” Batey said. “He’s a very good friend. I sent him a message just saying how much everyone in the show would miss him, myself more so than most because Henry and I are very good pals and we’ve spent the past four years carving out these stories.”
Batey also said shared some details about how he tried to help Liam Hemsworth feel at home on the Continent. “I reached out to him and said ‘Welcome’. The strength in him and the bravery to come and join a show like this, like halfway through is unbelievable and I hope that everyone know the commitment that he’s already showing to these incredibly big boots he has to fill.”
"He’s diving headfirst into this and taking it so seriously with his research and training and things like that. We’ll miss Henry an awful lot, but Liam’s gonna bring something new and fresh and different to it."
It’ll be quite a while until we see Hemsworth in action, so he’s got plenty of time for all that research and training. Season 3 of The Witcher is set to drop on Netflix next summer, which means we shouldn’t expect to see Hemsworth don the white wig until 2024 or 2025.
In the meantime, you can catch Batey in The Witcher: Blood Origin on December 25.
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