It's always hard to replace a cast member on an ongoing TV show, but sometimes sh*t happens; people have to bow out because of their health, or there's a scheduling conflict, or whatever. It's especially hard when a TV show has to replace the lead actor, and even harder when that lead actor is Henry Cavill, one of the internet's chosen golden people. But that's what happened on the Netflix show The Witcher. Cavill walked away from the lead role of Geralt of Rivia for reasons unknown to this day, and he'll be replaced by Liam Hemsworth starting in season 4.
You don't have to look hard to find people online vowing not to watch the new season without Cavill at the head of the show. Whether they follow through on that threat remains to be seen, but it's possible Hemsworth is feeling a little unwelcome. Freya Allan, who plays Geralt's surrogate daughter Ciri, empathizes. "I don’t want to speak for him, but from what I’ve understood, I feel like he’s really wanting to try and bring the heart," she told Collider. "He’s been training. I feel sorry for him, honestly, because, number one, that fan base can be very attack-y, and it’s not an ideal situation to be in taking up someone else’s role. But I’m really excited to see what he does. And he’s such a lovely guy. I just hope that people give him the time of day, you know?"
If Hemsworth gives a good performance as Geralt, I think people will come around to him in short order. It's easy to imagine catastrophe when we're still so far out from the new episodes, but things could change on a dime if people like what they see.
Geralt and Ciri won't interact much in The Witcher season 4
Hemsworth will play Geralt for the final two seasons of the show, which will adapt the final three books in author Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher series: Baptism of Fire, The Tower of Swallows and The Lady of the Lake. If you remember, the third season ended with Ciri getting warped far away from Geralt, who's now looking for her. Ciri has a journey of her own to make, and it sounds like the two won't get much time together, if any, in season 4.
"ur characters, all the storylines are going their separate ways this season," Allan said. "So it’s very much my own journey. Obviously, Geralt’s always going to have a massive weight on my character, but it’s very much her. She’s got a lot going on this season. She goes to some very dark places within herself, and also just discoveries, and coming into being a woman, basically. So yeah, she’s got her own separate thing. There isn’t much of an interaction there."
That's more or less consistnt with what happens in the books. When Geralt and Ciri finally do reunite, I wonder if she'll be shocked by his new face. We'll find out when The Witcher season 4 drops on Netflix, probably sometime in 2025.
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