‘The Witcher’ Reveals How Henry Cavill’s Recasting Will Actually Work

Season 4 of Netflix’s The Witcher adaptation is one of the streamer’s most anticipated returning shows, but not in a good way. The first three seasons saw Henry Cavill portray the iconic monster slayer, Geralt of Rivia, from Andrzej Sapkowski’s best-selling fantasy novels. Liam Hemsworth was then cast as the new Geralt when Cavill departed from the series after Season 3 for still unclear reasons. Since then, fans have wondered how Hemsworth will get on as Geralt of Rivia in Seasons 4 and 5, and how the series will handle the transition. Many assumed that The Witcher would follow the suit of most recastings on TV, and pretend that nothing happened. But, Netflix is going meta by incorporating the recasting into the upcoming fourth season… and fans of the books won’t be happy.

A new report from Redanian Intelligence has revealed key plot details from Season 4 of The Witcher, including how the writers and showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich have dealt with Henry Cavill’s recasting. Not only will the series mention the recasting, but it will do it in the most meta way possible. The report confirms that Season 4 will use the characters of Nimue and Stribog to work around Henry Cavill’s departure from the show. In the books, Nimue and Striborg are alive over a century after Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri have all died, with the latter being a traveling storyteller who tells Nimue of the legend of the Witcher’s romance with Yennefer.

While the characters appear in the books, Netflix’s adaptation will alter their storyline to resolve Liam Hemsworth replacing Henry Cavill. According to the report, the young Nimue, who will be played by Eve Ridley, will interrupt Stribog’s story to tell him that certain details were wrong. This will then jump to a sequence of flashbacks, including scenes from the first three seasons. The flashback will blend the original scenes starring Henry Cavill with shot-for-shot remakes starring Hemsworth. This was confirmed by leaked set photos showing Hemsworth recreating Geralt’s fight with Vilgefortz from Season 2.

Why Fans Will Be Frustrated By the New Changes

The Witcher is one of Netflix’s most divisive major series. While the show has a large following of casual fans, those who enjoyed the books or the video games by CD Projekt Red have a lot of gripes about Netflix’s adaptation. The biggest complaint stems from Netflix’s handling and changes to the source material. Many storylines from the original novels have been cut in the adaptation process, with the series then adding in new original plotlines.

Fans of Sapkowski’s books feel that the new plotlines are a major downgrade from the arcs they are replacing, as many have confusing implications for the main characters moving into the rest of the story. Henry Cavill, who was a major fan and champion for a faithful adaptation, leaving the series after Season 3 was then the icing on the cake for fans of the books to truly turn against the series.

Season 4 of The Witcher is in post-production, with shooting on the fifth and final season ongoing. No release date has been revealed for Season 4.