The Witcher star Graham McTavish promises "seamless transition" from Henry Cavill to Liam Hemsworth
By Daniel Roman
Netflix's monster-hunting fantasy show The Witcher is in the middle of a very interesting transition. The shows third season marked the final time that actor Henry Cavill will play lead character Geralt of Rivia; when The Witcher returns for season 4, it'll be Liam Hemsworth under the white wig. We're at a point in Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher books where the narrative shifts focus away from Geralt and centers Princess Ciri (Freya Allan) for the back half of the saga as some very weird, multiversal meta elements rise to the forefront. It'll be very curious to see how fans react to these changes when The Witcher season 4 drops on Netflix.
One person who's not particularly concerned is Graham McTavish, who plays the Redanian spymaster Sigismund Dijkstra. McTavish is a seasoned actor who's appeared in tons of genre fare, including Outlander, House of the Dragon, The Hobbit movies, and even the voice of Dracula in Netflix's Castlevania show. He's seen it all, and he's pretty confident fans will have no problem with the transition.
"It's a bit like James Bond, for example. James Bond has been played by seven different actors, and people still love it because the core of a James Bond film remains the same. That also applies to The Witcher," McTavish told outlet The Nerd Shepherd at Heroes Dutch Comic Con. "It seems to have had no influence on that either. It's about staying true to the world, and as long as the actor is good and the scripts staying strong—and they are—I think the transition will go very smoothly."
As for what viewers can expect in regards to the recast, McTavish played coy. "Well, I can't really say much about it because then they'll kill me," he joked. "But what I can tell you is that I worked with Liam Hemsworth, and that was a real pleasure. Great. The Witcher has had a lot of luck with both Henry and Liam. There's a lot going on—the usual intrigue and dual agendas you'd expect from the characters."
Obviously, McTavish isn't going to go around spilling tons of beans, but I do think it's very interesting that he confirmed he'll be sharing scenes with Hemsworth. So far as I recall, Dijkstra and Geralt don't cross paths again in The Witcher books after the Thanedd coup, which played out in season 3. If these two characters are onscreen together in season 4, the show may be changing things.
The other option is even more interesting. Early in The Witcher season 4's filming cycle, images leaked out that seemed to imply the show was re-filming some of the climactic scenes from season 3 but with Hemsworth instead of Cavill, like Geralt's duel with Vilgefortz on the beach at Thanedd. I'm guessing this is going to lean into the meta elements of the series, which could toy with the way Geralt is depicted as a historical figure and perhaps explain why he looks so different this season. If so, then perhaps The Witcher also re-shot Geralt's final encounter with Dijkstra, where he broke the spymaster's leg.
However you slice it, we'll be seeing more of McTavish in The Witcher season 4. And that's not the only place the actor will be showing up; he also seemingly confirmed during this same interview that he'll be returning to HBO's Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon for its third season as former Kingsguard knight Ser Harrold Westerling.
Jaskier's bard rival Valdo Marx will return in The Witcher season 4
Valdo Marx, the annoying bard rival for Jaskier (Joey Batey), will be returning for The Witcher season 4 as well. Redanian Intelligence has heard whispers from their sources that actor Nathan Armarkwei Laryea, who plays Valdo, will appear in Episode 5 or 6 of the upcoming season.
I won't lie, this is a bit of news I could have done without. I generally enjoyed The Witcher season 3 a lot, but Valdo Marx's incongruously modern music was one of the few hairs in the soup. I still cringe thinking about it. That's no fault of Laryea, who did a fine job as the bard, but more an overall choice of The Witcher to include a strangely modern style of music in a medieval fantasy world as part of a gaudy punchline. It just didn't quite work for me, but maybe I'm biased because of how well The Witcher video games included music that was both catchy and appropriate to the medieval world. I've been spoiled by Priscilla, what can I say.
Redanian Intelligence also reports that actors Gareth David-Lloyd, Gary Oliver, Rowan Polonski, Joanne Zorian, Alex Badini, Tia Dutt, Stephen Aaron-Sipple, Maddie Stoneman, and Martyn Hodge will be joining the show in season 4. We'll see how they, Dijkstra, Valdo Marx, and Hemsworth-Geralt all fare when The Witcher returns for its fourth season. Filming wrapped in late October; expect it to land on Netflix sometime in 2025. In the meantime, there's a new Witcher book on the way that hits shelves in Poland soon:
Andrzej Sapkowski's next Witcher novel gets a title and release date — and it's even sooner than expected. Andrzej Sapkowski's next Witcher novel gets a title and release date — and it's even sooner than expected. dark. Next
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