By now, it's likely that we all know Henry Cavill's days as Geralt of Rivia are over, with Liam Hemsworth taking over the role for The Witcher season 4. How this recasting is going to be addressed in the Netflix series still remains unknown, but producer Tomasz Bagiński may have let something slip.
"Many book readers forget what Andrzej Sapkowski did in the fifth volume of the saga. For me, this is one of the most important things in the whole story," Bagiński said in a recent interview with Polish publication Wyborcza. "I’m not talking about specific events, but the narrative framework that was introduced in this book. Suddenly, at the beginning of the book, we learn that everything we’ve read so far might not have been true. And this cannot be compared with, for example, the currently popular concept of the multiverse, where out of nowhere there are many different realities."
He continued: "Everything was turned upside down, and suddenly it turned out to be some postmodern play with form. It was supposed to be fantasy, but it turned into a philosophical discourse on the nature of reality. In this context, the world built by Andrzej Sapkowski seems to me one of the most flexible in all of fantasy."
So, in short, there won't be any kind of Witcher multiverse – instead, it looks like we may be seeing a much more meta explanation for Geralt's changed appearance, with the show's narrative structure being turned on its head to reflect a story within a story.
However, The Witcher community isn't convinced by Bagiński's comments. "Geralt is Geralt regardless if he's played by Henry or Liam. No explanation needed or desired honestly," said one Reddit user.
"The elegant way to do it would be to have Geralt really badly hurt, beyond recognition. That way, he'd need magic facial reconstruction, and it only goes so far. Similar, but impossible to do as he was, due to extent of damage," suggested another. "It's a cheap out, but easy to pull off."
Most viewers seem adamant that they don't need an explanation, though. "It's definitely weird, it's not like he is the first actor that is replaced in a movie/show, but this is the first time I hear anyone requiring an explanation on why someone looks different," wrote another Redditor. "There are even cases where new version of the character doesn't sound, look or act at all similar to the original."
Season 4 doesn't have a release date yet, but The Witcher season 3 is streaming now on Netflix. For more on the show, check out our coverage on:
