Geralt of Rivia won’t be the only character looking a bit different in The Witcher season 4. In addition to recasting the role of Geralt for season 4 with Liam Hemsworth taking over the role from Henry Cavill, the Netflix fantasy drama will see another new actor stepping in to take on a key role in the upcoming season.
As confirmed by Entertainment Weekly, Kim Bodnia will not be returning to reprise his role as Vesemir in season 4. Instead, the character will be played by The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power star Peter Mullan, who was brought in to join the show due to a scheduling conflict for Bodnia.
Bodnia joined the cast in the show’s second season playing Vesemir, a veteran monster hunter who was a father figure of sorts to Geralt. We last saw him in the season 2 finale and even the creative team behind the show didn’t expect to see the character back. It wasn’t until they got back into the writers room that the idea came together to bring back the Witchers in recognizing there were key events on the horizon they wanted Vesemir to be a part of.
While the show tried to bring Bodnia back, the problem came with his and the show’s filming schedules. Bodnia was under contract for F1 which was delayed by the 2023 actors’ and writers’ strikes. As he was needed to film F1, Bodnia was unable to return for The Witcher season 4 which led the creative team to make the difficult decision to recast the role.
"I spoke to Kim about it and he was devastated. He loved playing Vesemir. Also, F1's a big movie, so I understand that they could not necessarily work around our schedule,” showrunner Lauren Hissrich revealed. “So Peter came in, and what I think is always great when really seasoned actors come in and they know they're replacing someone is, 'What do you want me to carry over? What do you want me to bring new?' Kim has a very distinctive accent. [Mullan] had listened to that accent. He had said, 'How do I change my accent to make this a little bit more like his?' Utter professional."
It’s unclear exactly how large a role Vesemir will play in the upcoming season, but we imagine it might be significant if the writers felt strongly enough about bringing the character back and recasting him to make it happen.
While we hate to see Bodnia go, it almost seems like perfect timing for the show to recast Geralt’s father figure the same season it recast Geralt. Rather than Hemsworth trying to recreate the chemistry Cavill shared with Bodnia, we get to see him and Mullan forge their own path forward together as they both step into these iconic characters. It’s a rare opportunity in a show of this scale, and it’s going to be fun to see what the two actors bring both to their respective roles but also to Geralt and Vesemir’s relationship.
The Witcher season 4 arrives October 30 on Netflix.