The Witcher season four teaser.
It has been a tumultuous run for Netflix’s popular adaptation of The Witcher novels and games. A series of setbacks and controversies led to a long delay after the show lost its star, Henry Cavill. Now a brief season four teaser gives us our first look at Cavill’s replacement in the role of Geralt of Rivia, Liam Hemsworth.
The video above reveals little about the direction for the season beyond establishing that, yes, Hemsworth is now Geralt, and here’s what it looks like. He looks the part, though it’s hard for some fans to imagine him matching Cavill’s pitch-perfect presence and delivery for the character.
See, Cavill is famously a passionate gamer. He’s talked at length about his deep fandom of Warhammer 40K, his experiences playing World of Warcraft, and yes, his experiences with 2015’s immensely popular open-world RPG The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. He even has appeared in a video building a gaming PC.
Rumors abounded when the former Superman actor announced he was departing Netflix’s show after season three, including some rumors that he had left over creative differences with the showrunners over staying faithful to the spirit of the source material. We may never know the full story, but it looks like Cavill is on to bigger and better things: He’s attached as producer and star of a major Marvel Cinematic Universe-scale effort by Amazon Studios to turn the lore-dense Warhammer 40K into a big-budget, live-action phenomenon.
The onboarding of Liam Hemsworth to the role was announced in tandem with Cavill’s departure. Here’s an excerpt from Cavill’s statement at the time:
In my stead, the fantastic Mr. Liam Hemsworth will be taking up the mantle of the White Wolf. As with the greatest of literary characters, I pass the torch with reverence for the time spent embodying Geralt and enthusiasm to see Liam’s take on this most fascinating and nuanced of men. Liam, good sir, this character has such a wonderful depth to him. Enjoy diving in and seeing what you can find.
It has been previously announced that the series’ last season will be season five, so Hemsworth will portray the character for two seasons. Events in season three suggested that the show will, in the future, focus just as much on Freya Allen’s Ciri, though.
Season four is currently in production and is expected to premiere on the streaming service in 2025.
Listing image by Netflix