In July, we reported that a fan-favorite supporting character from the novels who appeared in The Witcher‘s second season, the witcher Coen portrayed by Zates Atour, will return for Season 4. The last time we saw Coen, he was with Vesemir and the witchers of the Wolf School at the fortress of Kaer Morhen, and Coen does not reappear in the novels until a brief moment at the very end of the Saga.
When we first reported his return, we did not have much information on the scene in which Coen would appear, but now that has changed. We have learned that Zates Atour’s Coen will not be the only witcher to meet Liam Hemsworth‘s recast Geralt of Rivia in a Season 4 scene.
Lambert is set to return along with Coen
Yes, Coen will not be the only returning witcher in Season 4. The red-haired witcher Lambert, portrayed by Paul Bullion. Though he had a relatively small role in the show, the character an his relationship with Atour’s Coen left a strong impression, so much that we had heard that at one point a spinoff focusing on them was being considered (although, that did not pan out).
With two returning witchers involved, we can speculate what this scene will cover. The simplest option is that this will be a flashback scene, either a rehash of a Season 2 scene with Liam replacing Henry (as we have seen happen with the Vilgefortz fight scene) or a brand new scene set during or before the Season 2 timeline.
The second option is that the show will introduce a new storyline to the show involving the witchers to have them meet Geralt, and this requires some changes to the storyline featured in the novels. Either way, the motivation for adding this scene seems quite clear.
Geralt’s recasting poses a challenge for the last two seasons of the show because the story is headed in a direction that keeps Geralt isolated from other core cast members that define his character: Freya Allan’s Ciri and Anya Chalotra’s Yennefer who are his newfound family, and the witcher brothers who were his childhood family.
If the show were to ignore the elephant in the room and move forward with the story, Hemsworth’s few shared scenes with these characters would occur in the last couple of episodes of the series, and a lack of shared screentime could diminish the emotional impact of these cathartic scenes.
For this reason, it will come as no surprise if, as part of Hemsworth’s onboarding to the role of Geralt, he will interact with these characters again in Season 4. This could happen either through various changes to the plot of the novels that would intertwine the paths of Geralt, Ciri, Yennefer, and the witchers, or through flashback sequences that would revisit crucial moments or explore moments we have not yet seen, with Liam Hemsworth as the new Geralt.
The witchers’ reunion is now confirmed, but we should similarly expect some added scenes between Geralt and Yennefer, and Geralt and Ciri, to re-establish these key relationships.
