In late 2022, Henry Cavill announced his departure from Netflix’s The Witcher. In his place, Liam Hemsworth will take over the role of Geralt of Rivia for the show’s fourth and fifth seasons. Ahead of Season 4’s debut next month, Hemsworth has revealed that he was very aware of the backlash against his casting. That’s why he largely swore off the internet during that time.
“There was quite a bit of noise and I had to put that aside,” Hemsworth told Entertainment Weekly. “It started to become a distraction. I dealt with that sort of thing in the past a lot and, you know, at the end of the day, I love making movies and I love telling stories and acting. I just don’t want any of that to affect my way of telling the story that I’m trying to tell. I jumped off social media and the internet most of last year.”
Hemsworth also noted that Season 4 picks up shortly after the conclusion of Season 3, with Geralt feeling battered physically and mentally.
“The beginning of Season 4 is pretty close after the battle with Vilgeforz,” noted Hemsworth. “He’s not in a good place at that point, physically. He’s severely injured. Mentally, he’s dealing with things that he’s not used to, which is self-doubt and this frustration. Now all of a sudden, you’re seeing the very human side to this person, but what you’re also seeing is the determination to fix it.”
This season, Geralt will be assembling a team around him to help him find Ciri (Freya Allan) and bring her home. EW’s report confirms that Laurence Fishburne will play Regis, a member of Geralt’s new team–or hansa–who is a vampire that has sworn off of drinking blood. Fishburne also told EW that gave his character a unique relationship with Geralt.
“One is a monster killer and one is a monster,” said Fishburne. “Under normal circumstances, they would be enemies, but in the story that they’re trying to tell, because Regis has sworn off blood for the last 50 years, he’s not a threat. Geralt actually takes him at his word about that and allows him to join this merry band of misfits that we call the hansa. Also, there was the idea that because Regis is 400 and some odd years old, he’s got a lot of life experience and accrued a lot of wisdom. He’s able to share that with Geralt as he goes through this odyssey of trying to find Ciri.”
The Witcher Season 4 will premiere on October 30 on Netflix. The series has already been renewed for a fifth and final season.
A concert tour for the music of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt started its American run earlier this month. CD Projekt Red is currently in development on The Witcher 4, which will be the first game in the series to feature Ciri as the leading character. Additionally, CD Projekt Red is producing a remake of The Witcher, which was first released in 2007. Fool’s Theory will develop the remake, with the guidance of CD Projekt Red.
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