The Witcher season 4 is facing some big challenges, mostly its Geralt of Rivia recast, but for Liam Hemsworth’s casting to succeed, the show must repeat one of season 1’s most iconic scenes. After building a solid and loyal fanbase with their adaptations into video games, Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher novels got their first English-language adaptation thanks to Netflix. Starring Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia, The Witcher quickly became one of Netflix’s most popular TV shows, but this changed with its second season due to changes made to the source material.
The Witcher learned from those mistakes and its third season was a big improvement, staying true to the source material. However, The Witcher season 3 didn’t quite win its audience back, and this is going to be an even bigger challenge in the upcoming fourth season. Henry Cavill left The Witcher after season 3 and Liam Hemsworth was announced as the new Geralt, sparking a lot of debate and backlash. The Witcher season 4 is now facing its Geralt and Vesemir recasts along with some potentially controversial storylines, but it can make it easier for Hemsworth by repeating one key scene.
The Witcher Season 4 Must Repeat Geralt's Epic Season 1 Opening With Liam Hemsworth
The Witcher Went Big In Its Very First Scene
Liam Hemsworth's biggest challenge with Geralt is a tricky one: he must make the character his own but also keep some cohesiveness with Cavill’s version (they are the same character, after all). A first look at Hemsworth as Geralt has already been revealed, but there are many other details about the character that are to be seen, as are Hemsworth’s Geralt voice and mannerisms. However, there are a couple of ways to help make the transition from Cavill to Hemsworth a lot smoother, and one of them is repeating Geralt’s big opening scene from the first season.
Netflix’s The Witcher went straight into action with a battle between Geralt and a Kikimora. Both emerged from a lake in a dark forest and just when it seemed like the Kikimora would win, Geralt took his sword back and killed the monster. It’s an exciting scene as, at one point, it seemed like Geralt wouldn’t make it out of the lake alive, but he showed exactly why he’s the best at what he does. A similar scene can be greatly beneficial to Hemsworth’s Geralt, reminding the audience that he’s the same Geralt and that what he does best is kill monsters.
Showing Liam Hemsworth's Geralt In Action Could Secure The Success Of His Recast
Liam Hemsworth Has A Huge Challenge Ahead As Geralt
A complaint in the last two seasons of The Witcher has been the lack of action scenes between Geralt and monsters – after all, killing monsters and other creatures is what he does as a witcher. Because of this, there’s a lot of anticipation around The Witcher season 4 and if it will bring back action scenes between Geralt and monsters, and with this also comes the curiosity of seeing Hemsworth fighting these creatures.
Hemsworth’s first scene as Geralt being a fight with a monster similar to that of Cavill vs the Kikimora could secure the success of The Witcher’s recast, showing Hemsworth’s talent and preparation right away. In addition to reminding the audience of what Geralt does best, a fight scene to kick off The Witcher season 4 would show consistency between both versions of Geralt and would help remind the audience that Geralt is still the best among witchers.
Based on the novels by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski and the video games, The Witcher follows the story of Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter who struggles to find his place in a world where people often prove more wicked than beasts. "Ciri" Cirilla is the Princess of Cintra, who has magical abilities and whose fate has been linked to Geralt's. Yennefer of Vengerberg, a sorceress who trains to become a mage before deserting her duties and going solo, is also a main character in the Netflix series. The show's storylines are intertwined but told throughout different timelines, all of which eventually catch up to Ciri's, whose timeline of events is the most recent. Set on the Continent where men, monsters, and elves exist together, the characters all have separate journeys, though their destinies bring them into each others' orbits.
Release Date December 20, 2019
Showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich