The Witcher season 4 is almost here, and the headline news everyone is talking about hasn't quite gone away since its announcement back in 2022: Liam Hemsworth is stepping into the role of Geralt, replacing the outgoing Henry Cavill.
While many would regard The White Wolf's recasting as a thankless task for whoever plays the role, The Witcher creator and showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich – who has overseen every season of the Netflix series – had complete confidence in Hemsworth's ability to draw serious emotional heft from The Continent's premiere monster slayer.
"What I thought he brought to that character was this real sort of emotional depth and this vulnerability and the ability to sort of be falling in love, but also be part of this really scopic world," Hissrich told GamesRadar+.
Instead of merely being a copycat of Cavill's Geralt, Hemsworth's arrival was a boon for the show's switch into following a Geralt who was broken and defeated after being bested by Vilgefortz in The Witcher season 3 ending.
"We knew that Geralt this season has a very different story than he's had in past seasons," Hissrich explained. "When we find Geralt in season four, he's at the lowest place he's ever been. He's a broken man. He's been beaten by Vilgefortz. He's injured. He's in pain, not to mention, obviously, he has lost his daughter. He doesn't know where she is. He's lost the love of his life, and he is at his lowest of lows."
Hissrich continued, "So we also knew we wanted to find someone who would be able to bring the gruffness and the sort of action star that we know from Geralt, but to be able to bring this undercurrent of a man who's lost a lot of things. Liam does such a beautiful job of walking that line of being able to be emotional without being weak; to be vulnerable, without being fully exposed all the time."
That marriage of mental turmoil and physical prowess ("Let's be honest, he's Liam Hemsworth. You look at him, and he has the look of someone who can wield a sword," Hissrich quips) showed up in this new iteration of the character from the very first moment Hemsworth arrived on set. If any doubts had set in, they instantly dissipated, with Hissrich declaring it the "right choice."
"When he landed the first day, and he brought these two things together, that sort of emotional character piece and this sort of hulking physicality, we knew we'd made the right choice," Hissrich said.
Liam Hemsworth portrays Geralt in The Witcher season 4, which arrives on Netflix on October 30.
For more, check out The Witcher season 4 release schedule, then fill up your watchlist with our picks for the best shows on Netflix and best movies on Netflix.
