Ahead of his departure in season four of The Witcher, showrunner Lauren Hissrich has promised Henry Cavill will have a “heroic send-off”.
For the fourth series, Cavill’s shoes will be filled by Liam Hemsworth, but he’s still got one rodeo left as Geralt of Rivia before the role switches hands. Cavill announced his departure from the hit Netflix show in October, and fans were disgruntled to see him leave the programme. However, he believes Hemsworth is a capable replacement.
In a statement released on Instagram, Cavill wrote: “My journey as Geralt of Rivia has been filled with both monsters and adventures, and alas, I will be laying down my medallion and my swords for season four.
“In my stead, the fantastic Mr Liam Hemsworth will be taking up the mantle of the White Wolf. As with the greatest of literary characters, I pass the torch with reverence for the time spent embodying Geralt and enthusiasm to see Liam’s take on this most fascinating and nuanced of men.”
Now, Hissrich has spoken to Entertainment Weekly about the show’s plans for Cavill’s exit. She said: “Henry has given so much to the show and so we want to honour that appropriately. Geralt’s big turn is about giving up neutrality and doing anything that he has to do to get to Ciri. And to me, it’s the most heroic send-off we could have, even though it wasn’t written to be that.”
Hissrich continued: “Obviously, we can’t do every page, but [the book] Time of Contempt gave us so many big action events, plot points, defining character moments, huge reveals of a big bad. There’s so much to do that we were able to stick really, really closely with the books [sic].”
The showrunner added: “Geralt has a new mission in mind when we come back to him in season 4. He’s a slightly different Geralt than we expected. Now, by the way, that’s an understatement.”
