Production on Season 4 is currently underway in the UK. As announced in April, Season 4 is being shot back-to-back with a fifth and final season, which will complete the adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski’s books.
“It is with huge pride that we begin shooting our penultimate season of The Witcher with a stellar cast, including some exciting new additions, led by Liam Hemsworth as Geralt of Rivia,” creator and showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich told Netflix when cameras started rolling on Season 4. “We’re thrilled to be able to bring Andrzej Sapkowski’s books to an epic and satisfying conclusion. It wouldn’t be our show if we didn’t push our family of characters to their absolute limit — stay tuned to see how the story ends.”
The fourth and fifth seasons will cover Sapkowski’s three remaining books: Baptism of Fire, The Tower of the Swallow, and Lady of the Lake. As Hissrich mentioned, Hemsworth is taking over the role of Geralt from Henry Cavill, who played the character in the first three seasons.
[“A Time of Contempt” playing]
The Witcher Season 4 Table Read
“My journey as Geralt of Rivia has been filled with both monsters and adventures, and alas, I will be laying down my medallion and my swords for Season 4,” Cavill said in a statement when he and Hemsworth shared the exciting news on social media in October 2022. “In my stead, the fantastic Mr. Liam Hemsworth will be taking up the mantle of the White Wolf. As with the greatest of literary characters, I pass the torch with reverence for the time spent embodying Geralt and enthusiasm to see Liam’s take on this most fascinating and nuanced of men. Liam, good sir, this character has such a wonderful depth to him — enjoy diving in and seeing what you can find.”
Hemsworth is thrilled about this new adventure. “As a Witcher fan, I’m over the moon about the opportunity to play Geralt of Rivia,” he said in a statement. “Henry Cavill has been an incredible Geralt, and I’m honored that he’s handing me the reins and allowing me to take up the White Wolf’s blades for the next chapter of his adventure. Henry, I’ve been a fan of yours for years and was inspired by what you brought to this beloved character. I may have some big boots to fill, but I’m truly excited to be stepping into The Witcher world.”
You can check out a photo from Season 4’s table read above. Meanwhile below, with the help of showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, we break down where we left things at the end of Season 3, how they set the stage for what’s to come in Season 4, what to expect from Fishburne’s character, and more.
What does Liam Hemsworth look like as the Witcher?
In a newly released teaser above, Hemsworth can be seen wearing Geralt’s signature medallion as he treks across dim, murky land, turning around to face the eerie squelch of something looming behind him.
How did The Witcher Season 3 end?
Geralt, Ciri (Freya Allan), and Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) are separated once again by the end of Season 3. After being brutally defeated by the treacherous mage Vilgefortz (Mahesh Jadu), who’s working with Nilfgaard, Geralt is forced to retreat and recover from his injuries. However, after hearing word that Emhyr (Bart Edwards), the emperor of Nilfgaard, has found his daughter Ciri, Geralt musters all his strength and heads off to save Ciri with the help of Jaskier (Joey Batey) and Milva (Meng’er Zhang). However, fans know that Emhyr doesn’t actually have the real Ciri; it’s a young woman named Teryn (Frances Pooley), one of the elven mage novices that Vilgefortz kidnapped and entranced into thinking she’s Ciri. And the real Ciri? She’s actually off on her own adventure.
In the wake of the destruction of the Tor Lara tower, Ciri travels through a portal and winds up in the barren Korath Desert. There, she grapples with her immense powers as she traverses the harsh terrain. When a band of nomadic traders eventually capture her, a squad of misfit teenagers called the Rats help her escape. Once free, she murders her captor and takes on a new identity, Falka — inspired by a legendarily brutal female rebel — as she joins the Rats.
Meanwhile, Yennefer is at Aretuza dealing with the fallout of Vilgefortz’s betrayal and the death of her mentor and mother figure, Tissaia (MyAnna Buring). Despite the heavy tragedy, Yennefer rallies the sorceresses and decides to fill Tissaia’s shoes as the new leader of Aretuza.
What is Season 4 about?
After the shocking, Continent-altering events that close out Season 3, the new season follows Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri, who are separated and traversing the war-ravaged Continent and its many demons. If they can embrace and lead the groups of misfits they find themselves in, they have a chance of surviving the baptism of fire — and finding one another again.
Who are the new characters in
Season 4?
Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix trilogy, The School for Good and Evil) is joining The Witcher as Regis, a world-wise barber-surgeon with a mysterious past. Regis is a fan favorite in the Witcher books and games who will cross paths with Geralt in Season 4. “I’m very excited to be joining the cast and look forward to exploring the wondrous world of The Witcher,” Fishburne told Netflix.
Then, there’s Sharlto Copley (District 9) as the infamous bounty hunter Leo Bonhart; James Purefoy (The Following) as Skellen, Emhyr’s court advisor and high-ranking spy; and Danny Woodburn (Watchmen) as Zoltan, the fan-favorite dwarf from the books and games.
Where will Geralt go in Season 4?
After everything that happens in Season 3, Geralt realizes political neutrality is no longer tenable and chooses a side.
“His side is Ciri and Yen, and he will do anything [for them],” Schmidt Hissrich told Tudum in April, explaining why Geralt fights off the corrupt soldiers in the finale as he heads to find Ciri. “He will get involved in anything he has to get into in order to make that happen.”
But Geralt won’t be alone on his quest to find Ciri and Yennefer, because he’ll have Jaskier and Milva by his side. “This is the beginning of what fans [of the books] will know as the Hanza. It’s the group traveling with Geralt for the rest of the books. This becomes his newfound family,” said Schmidt Hissrich. “He begins to realize that he needs help to get Yennefer and Ciri back, and when you need to help, you actually have to give of yourself as well. So, we start to watch the Hanza build and start to see that there are some amazing emotional connections to come there as well.”
She continued, “It’s really fun. That’s still a struggle for Geralt. This is a man who has always claimed he doesn’t have emotions because he can’t. And we clearly know that is not true. We’ll start to see those boundaries tested again in Season 4.”
Susie Allnutt/Netflix
What will happen to Ciri in Season 4?
Like Geralt, Ciri also has a newfound family in the Rats. “I know for Freya, it’s so exciting for her to be working with people her own age,” said Schmidt Hissrich. “[The Rats] are a band of misfit teenagers, and they get up to all sorts of fun and all sorts of trouble. It’s a completely different side of Ciri than we’ve seen before.”
But don’t forget that Ciri gives up her immense powers during her harrowing journey through the Korath Desert. Whether or not her powers are gone forever will be explored in Season 4. “Did we want her to choose to give up her powers — meaning that she has them, but she’s not going to access them because she wants to rid herself of her prior identity? Or did she actually magically relinquish those powers and she no longer has access to them? You’ll have to watch Season 4 to wait and see which is true,” said Schmidt Hissrich. “She can either continue living in the past or she can, at the end of her desert experience, push into the future. And she makes the choice for her future. I think in Season 4, that’s a decision she’s going to keep coming back to: ‘How do you forget where you came from? And do you actually want to?’ ”
What does Yennefer’s new role mean for Season 4?
After three seasons spent reckoning with her past, Yennefer will have to face another set of difficult questions as the leader of Aretuza. “Now the Brotherhood and her mother figure — her leader — are gone, how does she want to start to lead? And what does she want to be within the magical society of this world?” Schmidt Hissrich wondered. “She has some big choices to make.”
How does Vilgefortz’s betrayal set up Season 4?
Even though we know Vilgefortz has been pulling the strings this entire time and working with Nilfgaard, there are still so many more questions that need to be answered about his machinations.
“More of [the mechanics of his plan] will be revealed in Season 4,” said Schmidt Hissrich. “The questions that our characters need to be asking [going into] Season 4 [are], ‘Why is he doing this?’ and ‘How is he doing this?’ ‘When did Vilgefortz find Emhyr? Was it recently, when Ciri’s power first started to explode?’ Because we know that Emhyr came for her in Season 1 and burned down Cintra. Was Vilgefortz involved in that?”
Schmidt Hissrich continued, “We want people to go back and start looking at all of the clues and breadcrumbs that we have laid out to see how these two people align. Because, clearly, there’s a lot more going on with Emhyr, Vilgefortz, and their past — and their future.”
What do I need to know about Liam Hemsworth?
Of course, this isn’t the first time Hemsworth has starred in a blockbuster franchise based on a beloved book series; he played Gale Hawthorne in all four Hunger Games movies. His other credits include The Last Song, Independence Day: Resurgence, and Poker Face.
Make sure you return to Tudum for more information about The Witcher Season 4.
Additional reporting by Ariana Romero.
