Netflix’s Returning Epic Fantasy Becomes Instant Streaming Success (& It Secretly Got a Spinoff Everyone Thought Was Cancelled)

November 3, 2025, 2:02pm

Netflix gets a bad reputation for having series that come and go quickly, but one of the streaming platform’s biggest and most divisive IPs has just proven history (and all the doubters) wrong. Despite having been running for years now and facing some of the most challenging behind-the-scenes controversies ever for a major show, The Witcher is once again topping the charts. As Halloween 2025 arrived, The Witcher Season 4 dropped on Netflix; this season had the make-or-break development of having its lead actor switched out: Henry Cavill (Man of Steel) vacated the role of Geralt of Rivia, and Liam Hemsworth (The Hunger Games) is stepping into the franchise.

Videos by ComicBook.com

Henry Cavill’s built-in fan base had a lot of industry pundits wondering if the change in actors spelled doom for The Witcher Season 4 before it was even released. However, along with the current rankings from Netflix (which clearly show The Witcher in the top slot), there’s also the pronounced buzz from fans and critics alike: Hemsworth wasn’t a bad pick for the switch. In fact, he may be the least problematic thing about The Witcher Season 4, by many accounts.

Close behind The Witcher Season 4 was Netflix’s The Asset, an espionage-thriller series about a female undercover agent trying to take down a ruthless criminal gang by growing close to and ultimately turning the leader’s girlfriend. The premieres of The Witcher and The Asset over Halloween weekend far outpaced any other Netflix TV content, by a wide margin, nearly doubling the viewership of the new season of popular rom-com series Nobody Wants This, which is causing quite a stir with viewers saying it has dipped drastically in quality.

In The Witcher Season 4, “After the Continent-altering events of Season 3, Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri find themselves separated by a raging war and countless enemies. As their paths diverge and their goals sharpen, they encounter unexpected allies eager to join their journeys. And if they can accept these found families, they just might have a chance at reuniting for good…”

Liam Hemsworth replaces Henry Cavill in the lead role of Geralt; Freya Allan and Anua Chalotra return in central roles as Ciri and Yennefer (respectively), along with the bard Jasier (Joey Batey) and powerful mage Vilgefortz (Mahesh Jadu), who was revealed to be the big bad at the end of Season 3. The biggest breakout star of Season 4 has been Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix, Ant-Man and the Wasp), who joins The Witcher as “Regis,” a wise “barber-surgeon.” Also new to the cast are Danny Woodburn as the dwarf Zoltan, District 9 star Sharlto Copley, playing bounty hunter Leo Bonhart, and James Purefoy (The Following) as spy and court advisor Skellen.

The Witcher Spinoff Series Is Now Streaming (It Wasn’t Canceled!)

If you watch all episodes of The Witcher Season 4, Netflix has a nice “child of surprise” for you: The Rats: A Witcher Tale will unlock and become available for you to watch, as well! Fans had heard of the Rats gang possibly getting the focus in a piece of Witcher content, but when nothing concrete was announced, it seemed like another idea of the streaming wars had fallen by the wayside. Not so much.

As per Netflix, the spinoff series, “is set just before the group crosses paths with Ciri at the end of Season 3. The special chronicles their formation and the experiences that shape their worldview, and it reveals how they become targets of bounty hunter Leo Bonhart (Sharlto Copley) … Its central plot revolves around a daring heist at Dominik Houvenaghel’s new brutal fighting arena, with each Rat playing a critical role in the plan, which quickly goes awry and leads to devastating consequences.”