After starring as Geralt of Rivia in the first three seasons of The Witcher on Netflix, Henry Cavill left the series and was replaced by Liam Hemsworth in the fall of 2022. While some fans were shocked to learn Cavill was leaving the series, a new report from TUDUM revealed that the plan to replace Cavill was in the works long before the third season.
The report reveals Hemsworth was actually contacted by his agent about taking over as Geralt from Cavill in 2020, three years basically before Cavill actually left the series. (Update, October 8th @ 10:30 a.m. ET: TUDUM has since removed this date from their article.)
"I felt like I was going to have the support and the confidence that I needed to really pull it off,” Hemsworth told TUDUM.
He also added:
"Initially, I was pretty hesitant and unsure. It’s an odd thing to be asked to come in midway through a series like this and continue on as the lead character. But, as a fan of the video game, I felt like I could do something cool with it.”
On the surface, that seems innocent enough, right? Hemsworth wasn't sure if he wanted to take over for a fellow prominent star like Cavill in the middle of the series, but eventually, he came around to the idea.
Liam Hemsworth was contacted about playing Geralt while The Witcher season 2 was filming
The most shocking part of this is that Netflix and The Witcher team were already looking for Cavill's replacement while season 2 was actually filming. Remember, The Witcher premiered on Netflix on Dec. 20, 2019. Cavill and the team started filming season 2 in early 2020 with many interruptions throughout the year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Production continued until the spring of 2021. The second season was released later that year.
So, in other words, there were conversations about Hemsworth, and possibly others, taking over the role and Cavill departing the series right after the first season.
Wow.
In hindsight, though, this timeline starts to make sense. The Witcher season 2 is when some of those rumors and reports started about feuds between Cavill, showrunner Lauren Hissrich, and the writers. There was a lot of talk that Cavill was unhappy with story direction. Many of those things were never addressed publicly, but if Hemsworth is talking openly now about getting contacted back then, well, things were probably a lot worse than we thought.
One of the moments that did get addressed publicly was Roach's death scene, which happened in The Witcher season 2. In an interview with Polygon, Hissrich revealed that Cavill was unhappy with a comedic line during an impactful scene. Hissrich had Cavill write the line that he thought would work best, and that was actually the line that was kept in the show, which Hissrich admitted.
Here's what Hissrich told Polygon about that scene:
"Henry was so unhappy with the line. Finally I said, ‘You know what, you come up with something. I trust you, you know this material so well, you know the book so well, you don’t even have to pitch it to me.’ And he came back the next day with a beautiful speech that’s at the end of Sword of Destiny when Geralt is facing death and it’s such a pitch perfect moment.”
It's been well-reported that Cavill was very, very interested in this project, and he went out of his way multiple times to throw his hat in the ring to play Geralt. Eventually, he got the job.
Around season 2, Cavill also asked Hissirch for more dialogue for Geralt during the second season. Hissrich also mentioned that in an interview. So, it's no secret that Cavill wasn't totally happy with the final product.
Henry Cavill remained publicly committed to The Witcher until his exit
Even with all of that, Cavill still seemed to be interested in playing Geralt as late as 2021, at least a year after Hemsworth was contacted about taking over the role.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Cavill revealed that he would be open for seven seasons of The Witcher "as long as we can keep telling great stories which honor [author Andrzej] Sapkowski’s work."
All in all, there's a lot of smoke here to claim there was no fire. While those season 2 conversations were happening, someone had enough foresight to see if Hemsworth was interested in talking on the role. To me, that suggests a few possible scenarios.
The first scenario is that Cavill's reps were entertaining other offers. Actors leave shows all the time for different opportunities. Cavill is one actor who probably has many different opportunities presented to him. There was a lot going on with the DC and Superman around this time, too, and that could have presented scheduling challenges that were too big to overcome for Warner Bros. or Netflix. We don't know that to be true, but it's a possible milder explanation.
The other explanation is that there was enough unhappiness among the many parties to warrant someone talking to Hemsworth's reps to gauge his interest. Maybe, it's a combination of both.
Unfortunately, we probably won't know the full story unless Cavill wants to tell it. Perhaps, that will happen in the future, but first, we'll see Hemsworth step into the Continent as Geralt stating on Oct. 30.
As for how long it will take fans to forget we have a new Geralt in The Witcher season 4, Hissrich told TUDUM it shouldn't take long:
“People think of Geralt, and now they have specific images in their mind. Within about 45 seconds, I don’t think you really think about it much more. Liam owns this character.”
The Witcher season 4 hits Netflix on Thursday, Oct. 30! You know we'll be watching. Stay tuned for more news from the world of The Witcher!