The transition from Henry Cavill to Liam Hemsworth as Geralt of Rivia for season 4 of Netflix’s The Witcher will be a tough landing to stick, but executive producers Steve Gaub and Tomek Baginski are full of confidence, with Baginski telling Yahoo News that he thinks they’ve incorporated the swap into the story in a way that will be “very, very close to the meta ideas which are deeply embedded in the books, especially in book five.”
That reference may well be to Ciri’s dimension-hopping powers, which could be used to account for why Geralt looks a bit different. The fifth book in the Witcher series is The Lady of the Lake, which includes a cross-dimensional journey to a world of Arthurian legend.
“[The switch is] very lore accurate,” said Baginski. “It’s very close to what was set out in the books and I think this change will be quite flawless. But at the same time it will be a new Geralt, it will be a new face for this character and I think it will also be very, very exciting to see.”
We recently got our first look at season 3 of The Witcher, which will be Henry Cavill’s last turn as Geralt. Gaub said that he felt Cavill had done very well with his performance in season 3, and that it was a “great final run for him as Geralt.”
“Invariably those last moments are the ones you leave an audience with, and those last couple episodes are very strong episodes for him. I think he left with his head held high and passing the reins as many franchises end up doing, passing a title character from one actor to another, and we’re going to be in great hands with Liam,” said Gaub.
Cavill said goodbye to his costars and coworkers on the show earlier this month during a Netflix event.
“You guys bring so much nuance and detail to these characters, which are often at risk of being oversimplified, and what you guys have done with the characters has involved work, care, and effort. And believe me, working with you guys was the biggest pleasure. So, [I] just want to say I’m gonna miss you. I’m gonna miss you very much,” he said.
Here’s everything we know about The Witcher season 3, if you’re not caught up. It’s being released in two batches, with the first episodes coming this week on June 29.
For my part, I don’t think they should have done anything fancy or lore-accurate. I just think they should have had Henry go under in the tub and come up as Liam Hemsworth. Would have gone over a treat.