Sometime this year, Netflix will drop the fourth season of The Witcher, its ongoing adaptation of author Andrzej Sapkowski's epic fantasy series. This will be a huge year for the show, as Liam Hemsworth will step in as title character Geralt of Rivia, replacing Henry Cavill.
Why did Cavill leave the show three seasons through its proposed five-season run? Experts remain divided, but it's happening. Hemsworth may have a difficult time winning over fans, but he has some prominent supporters in his corner, including Doug Cockle, the voice of Geralt in The Witcher video games. "He's great in all those action films that he's done, isn't he? He is wonderful. So I think he'll bring all that to it," Cockle told Games Radar. "We'll see what he brings to the table. He's a good actor, so I'm really excited to see what he brings."
Still, Cavill is a tough act to follow, Cockle acknowledged. "I think what Henry and I brought to the role was that slight dour[ness] – I call him a reluctant hero," Cockle said. "It's that quality I think is most important to bring to the character of Geralt, because that's what he does. He's not a bad guy; he's not necessarily a good guy. He always wants to remain neutral, but he keeps finding himself in these situations where he has to make a decision when faced with a moral dilemma."
"Sometimes these decisions turn out okay, sometimes they don't. So I think that reluctant heroism is the most important quality to bring to the character of Geralt. But that can take many different shapes. Henry's version of that was different from mine, but very similar."
Liam Hemsworth "looks great" in The Witcher season 4
At the end of the third season, Geralt decided to abandon neutrality as he went in search of his surrogate daughter Ciri (Freya Allan), so Hemsworth will be playing the character at a slightly different time in his life. Still, all eyes will be on him to see how he measures up.
His fellow cast members are supportive. Although she was loathe to give too much after posting an image from the set and then getting chastised by Netflix, Safiyya Ingar (Keira Metz) offered Hemsworth a vote of confidence while speaking to Screen Rant: "[W]hat I can say is that Liam looks great. That's it. That's all I can say."
Meanwhile, Mimi M. Khayisa (Fringilla Vigo) express her amazement to Metro that Hemsworth was taking on this massive task. “When I see the work that that he’s been doing? Wow, what big shoes to step into; number one.“
"I think sometimes [with] actors, particularly at his level, we can forget the human. This human that’s also really nervous, the human that’s also like, “I’ve got a big job”, you know? Don’t let go of the fact that this is a massive job. It’s a massive platform. Those are big shoes, and he’s going to come with all of his feelings about that too."
Khayisa also talked about the next two seasons of The Witcher more generally. Together, they will finish adapting Sapkowski's books bring the show to an end. “We’re going towards the final storylines, there’s a lot more of a collective feel," she said. "These last two seasons kind of work as one really long season. When we did our final episode of season four, we did two slightly different variations because we don’t know where the season’s gonna end yet.“
"When we wrapped last season, which isn’t out yet, we suddenly had this wave of, “Guys, this is the start of the final storyline”...And we looked around and we were like, we’re almost done. And it was really emotional. It was really emotional because it’s been a massive part of our lives. We’ve bonded over it."
The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep includes scene cut from main Netflix show
We don't know when The Witcher season 4 will drop on Netflix, but it will probably be in the back half of the year. Closer in time, we can enjoy The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep, a new animated movie set during Geralt's early days as a professional monster hunter. Specifically, it's set between the fifth and sixth episodes of the first season, after Geralt has met his love interest Yennefer but before they're fully committed to each other.
Yennefer will turn up in the movie, at least in spirit, for a scene that was actually cut from the live-action show, as Sirens of the Deep co-writer Mike Ostrowski explained to SFX Magazine. "Geralt cannot let Yennefer go, even though he's trying his best," Ostrowski said. "She haunts him. Even if he wanted to be rid of her, he can't."
The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep will drop on Netflix on February 11, 2025.
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