The Witcher series is reportedly getting a fifth season at Netflix. In an interview with Deadline, UK casting director Sophie Holland said, “We’re just about to start filming on season four with Liam Hemsworth and there will be a short gap then we go straight into season five.” Hemsworth (The Hunger Games films) was brought onto the show last year, after Henry Cavill laid down the role of the leading monster hunter Geralt of Rivia. It is now revealed that the former is here to stay longer, with the fifth season being filmed back-to-back with season 4.
“I really look forward to seeing what Liam brings. He has a big fan base. Season four will be a nice mix of new characters and returning faces,” Holland said in the interview. Her reaction to Hemsworth’s casting echoes the views of series showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, who recently revealed that she was looking forward to his portrayal of the mostly-silent silver-haired Geralt.
While ending the show after Cavill’s departure was a possibility the team considered, she was one of the frontrunners in defending the recast. “There’s just too many stories left to tell. If we replaced Geralt with another Witcher, we would be going fully away from the books, and I don’t think that’s what anyone wanted either,” Hissrich told Total Film (via Collider) earlier this month.
The third season of the fantasy show has been divided into two parts — akin to Stranger Things 4 — marking Cavill’s final stint as Geralt. The first volume releases on June 29 and follows our monster hunter on a quest to protect his adopted daughter of sorts, Ciri (Freya Allan), with help from the powerful sorceress Yennefer (Anya Chalotra). Adapted from the Andrzej Sapkowski novel The Time of Contempt, Emhyr Var Emreis – the Emperor of Nilfgaard – will certainly pose big trouble for the lead group, given the shocking revelation that he is Ciri’s father and the Wild Hunt that ensues for her capture.
Production on The Witcher season 3 began in April 2022, with Netflix revealing its director lineup of four. This includes Stephen Surjik (The Umbrella Academy), Gandja Monteiro (Brand New Cherry Flavor), Loni Peristere (American Horror Story), and Bola Ogun (Lucifer). Everyone besides Surjik — who helmed the first two episodes of The Witcher season 2 — is new to the world of The Witcher. Netflix last released a prequel spin-off series called The Witcher: Blood Origin, set thousands of years prior and offering some context into the creation of the first prototype Witcher — they’re genetic mutations.
Meanwhile, Cavill was briefly set to reprise his role as Superman for DC Films, before those plans got shut down with the establishment of DC Studios under new leaders James Gunn and Peter Safran. The company wanted to focus on the younger years of the Kryptonian superhero, written and directed by Gunn, which hampered Cavill’s return. Later, the 40-year-old actor was attached to executive produce and star in a TV adaptation of Warhammer 40,000 — the miniature wargame — at Amazon Prime Video.
The Witcher Season 3: Vol. 1 premieres June 29 on Netflix. The second part is slated to release a month later, on July 27.