Netflix have dropped the first teaser trailer for the upcoming fourth season of The Witcher, giving us our first proper look at new leading man Liam Hemsworth.
With the new season set to drop at the end of October, it’ll arrive almost three years to the day since it was announced that the show would be returning without Henry Cavill, the original Geralt of Riva, with rumors back then citing that the known fan of the books was unhappy with the show’s creative direction.
At the time, fans saw Cavill’s departure as somewhat of a tragedy – he really did seem the perfect choice for the role. However, three years on, depending which church of nerdom you prescribe to, freeing the former-Superman up for the likes of Prime Video’s upcoming Warhammer and Highlander projects, both of which Cavill has significant creative involvement in, can only be a good thing.
But Hemsworth is left with big shoes to fill as the new face of one of the best Netflix shows, but judging by the new teaser clip – which you can watch just below – he might’ve nailed it. The first thing to notice is that he’s not trying to ape Cavill’s take on Geralt, if anything Hemsworth’s version of the eponymous monster hunter is close to a certain familial Asguardian.
While the clip doesn’t reveal any of the new cast members or story details, it does give us a tense supernatural smackdown, with Netflix giving us this rundown: “In the scene, Geralt (Hemsworth) faces a wraith – a ghostly, vengeful spirit. Geralt’s sword proves useless against the spectral foe, so he uses his Witcher Signs: first Aard (to blast it back), then Yrden (to trap it in a magical cage). With the wraith immobilized, Geralt reaches into its chest and crushes the dark, glowing mass at its core, causing the wraith to dissipate into black dust.”
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In terms of those new cast members, the most exciting addition is Laurence Fishburne, who is set to play favorite barber-surgeon Regis. Meanwhile, Sharlto Copley, James Purefoy, and Danny Woodburn also join the cast as bounty hunter Leo Bonhart, Nilfgaardian spy Skellen, and fan-favorite dwarven individual Zoltan respectively.
And it’s not just season 4 we have to look forward to, with Hemsworth also on board for a fifth and final season, with these two outings very much designed to form one epic conclusion. “One of the things we always say is that it wouldn’t be The Witcher if everything ended happily,” says showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich “This is the beginning of a two-season journey for our family to finally reunite and be together – hopefully forever.”
What do fans make of the new Geralt?
While fan reaction to Cavill’s departure and Hemsworth’s arrival was initially rather muted, the response to the first teaser has been surprisingly positive, with one Redditor saying “the recasting actually seems pretty well done, all things considered.” Another said Hemsworth “looks pretty good as Geralt,” while another commented: “He looks amazing tbh.”
But while fans seem onboard with their new Geralt, it seems the show as a whole doesn’t have huge amounts of anticipation, with one viewer noting “It’s crazy how badly they fumbled this”, while another summed their feelings up with: “Seeing anything from this series invariably makes me sad.”
Hemsworth, it seems, has been deemed a worthy replacement by a fanbase still mourning the loss of Cavill’s take on the character, and, for my money, the trailer delivers all the monster bashing action you could ask for, but with fans already checking out of the story, it seems The Witcher could be limping over the finish line.