Here’s How THE WITCHER Season 4 Premiere Explains Henry Cavill/Liam Hemsworth Geralt Recast
When we first heard Henry Cavill would be leaving The Witcher after season 3, Netflix immediately announced that The hunger games star Liam Hemsworth would succeed Geralt of Rivia.
The news received the expected mixed response from fans who felt Cavill received the short end of the stick as the titular Witcher. The revamp also raised questions about how – or even if – the series would address the fact that The WitcherThe protagonist had returned with a new face.
While the Season 4 premiere doesn’t provide a definitive explanation for Geralt’s new look, what we get should be enough to satisfy anyone who was worried the change might be overlooked.
As we first reported on SFFGazette.com earlier today, the premiere opens with a voiceover from storyteller Stribog (Clive Russell) as he tells a group of children about “The Butcher of Blaviken.” A scene takes place that is strikingly similar to the very first episode, when Cavill’s Geralt was fighting a kikimora.
This time, it’s Hemsworth’s Geralt who wields the sword before plunging it into the monster’s head. Similar scenes follow one another, and when Stribog has finished recounting the hero’s exploits, a young girl intervenes to say: “You are wrong.”
Stribog responds: “Oh Nimue, not again, that was a hundred years ago, there is no right or wrong…” The Witcher this goes with an unreliable narrator who is responsible for the White Wolf’s changing appearance, an idea rooted in the novels of Andrzej Sapkowski.
It is a collection of stories told from different perspectives, meaning the details and descriptions differ depending on who is telling. In the series, it’s now someone else who narrates Geralt’s adventures, explaining his new face (there are also a few cute nods here and there to “how much he’s changed”).
“We wanted to play with the idea, which is a major theme in ‘The Witcher,’ of how stories change depending on who’s telling them.” showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich told TV Line. “So obviously that opening sequence plays and there’s a device, and you feel like, oh, maybe everything we’ve seen over the last three seasons has been through someone’s point of view.”
“Maybe that’s not really how it happened. We like to constantly play with the idea of storytelling with our audience. We didn’t want to revolve around the fact that this is a new human being.” she added. “Yes, there’s still the yellow eyes and the silver wig, but at the same time, it’s Liam who’s playing now.”
“For us, it was about revisiting these really important moments in Geralt’s life, and seeing them now embraced by a new human. We hope that what you really start to see in Episode 1 is Geralt, and not the actor who plays Geralt. That was Liam’s commitment to the role, and it worked wonderfully. He really got into the character, so we didn’t feel the need to keep approaching him. “
In The Witcher In season 4, Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri find themselves separated by a raging war and countless enemies. As their paths diverge and their goals become clearer, they come across unexpected allies eager to join their journey. And if they can accept these found families, they just might have a chance to reunite for good.
The cast includes Liam Hemsworth as Geralt of Rivia, Anya Chalotra as Yennefer of Vengerberg, Freya Allan as Princess Cirilla of Cintra, Joey Batey as Jaskier, Laurence Fishburne as Regis, Meng’er Zhang as Milva, Sharlto Copley as Leo Bonhart, and James Purefoy as Skellen.
The Witcher Season 4 is now streaming on Netflix.
