New The Witcher Star Admits Reaction to Taking Over Henry Cavill Role Became a “Distraction”

Liam Hemsworth has now stepped into the famous shoes of the White Wolf Geralt in The Witcher season 4, and fans will finally have their chance to watch him in action when the show hits Netflix on October 30th. While we’ve seen brief glimpses of Hemsworth’s Geralt in clips, we haven’t heard much from Hemsworth himself regarding stepping in for Henry Cavill. Thankfully, that’s now changed, as Hemsworth is finally opening up a bit about everything that came with the role change, including the noise.

In a new interview with EW, Hemsworth recalled the moment the news broke that he would be taking over the role of Geralt from Cavill, and there was some noise he had to push aside. “There was quite a bit of noise and I had to put that aside. It started to become a distraction. I dealt with that sort of thing in the past a lot and, you know, at the end of the day, I love making movies and I love telling stories and acting. I just don’t want any of that to affect my way of telling the story that I’m trying to tell. I jumped off social media and the internet most of last year,” Hemsworth said.

Witcher showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich reveals that Hemsworth was the first actor she spoke with when the possibility of recasting came up, with Hissrich saying, “His name has been out there for a very long time.” Hemsworth was still surprised when he got the initial offer, saying, “It came out of nowhere. I was as surprised as anyone.”

A New Era for Geralt

Hemsworth is also a huge fan of the work Cavill did in the role of Geralt, saying, “I’m a massive fan of Henry’s, and I’m a fan of what he did in the show.” Hemsworth specifically highlighted Geralt’s protective instinct, which has a personal tether to Hemsworth’s childhood, as his father worked in child protection as a social service counselor. “We were brought up with this real sense of taking care of people around you,” Hemsworth said. “There’s elements of that I felt connected to.”

While Hemsworth is obviously honoring the character that was previously built in seasons 1 through 3, Hissrich also wanted Hemsworth to bring his own unique sensibilities to the part, with both wanting to lean into Geralt’s sense of humor and sex appeal more during season 4.

“The other really great thing about Liam is he takes this really, really seriously,” she says. “I think he knew that he was stepping into big shoes. It was really important to him to have certain things [for] continuity — and also certain things that he could invent so that his Geralt could stand on his own two feet.”

Changing of the Guard

To explain the recasting, the show is playing with perception and moments in time, as fans have seen a bit of what they have planned from previous set photos. Those photos hint at Hemsworth recreating scenes from past seasons to explain that he was Geralt the whole time. “We absolutely play with time,” Hissrich said. “We [are] having the most fun we’ve ever had with it.”

The series will wrap up with season 5, and even when Cavill exited the series, the plan never really changed. “We never really had serious conversations about the show not continuing,” Hissrich said. “The show is bigger than one actor. It’s bigger than me. There’s a book series, there’s a video game. We are the third entry into this. So The Witcher lives whether or not we go.”

What is interesting is that Hissrich goes into a bit more detail regarding Cavill’s departure, and while at the time it was painted as creative differences and the show not going along with the books, Hissrich states that the conversation of Cavill leaving the show was underway “for a while”. It’s also noted that Cavill personally wanted to end his time as Geralt, as there were other plans and roles that he really wanted to commit to.

“He had plans for other roles that he really wanted to commit himself to,” Hissrich said of Cavill’s exit. “And for us, you don’t want to hold someone and force them to be doing something that they don’t want to do. I think that’s why it felt like a really symbiotic decision.”

Cavill would return to the big screen as Superman in Black Adam, but that scene was right before DC’s major shakeup and the beginning of the James Gunn and Peter Safran era, so it didn’t end up resulting in a long-term return. Cavill is certainly keeping busy though, with films and franchises like Highlander, Voltron, and Warhammer 40k.

The Witcher season 4 hits Netflix on October 30th.

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