The Witcher cast faced a serious shakeup ahead of Season 4, after Henry Cavill left and Liam Hemsworth took over the role of Geralt. While there has been a lot of noise surrounding this switch, on set, things were very merry. That became very clear too as Joey Batey, who plays Jaskier, explained the sweet way the cast welcomed The Hunger Games actor.
I think it’s fitting that the way Hemsworth was welcomed to The Witcher was explained by Joey Batey, who plays a bard and Geralt’s closest friend. While chatting about The Witcher Season 4 and the major cast shift, the actor made it clear that their new co-star was welcomed with open arms and a trip to the pub. He told SFX Magazine on CinemaBlend:
Every time a new person comes to the show, our job is to almost overwhelmingly welcome them. We’re quite fervent about it. There’s lots of hugging. There’s lots of, ‘Come here, we’re going for a quick pint.’ We all did that with Liam. We all just went, ‘Okay, you’re part of the gang now.’
Well, that’s so sweet, and it goes right along with Batey’s feelings about Hemsworth taking over the role. During an interview with CinemaBlend, he told us that his new co-star “looked absolutely fantastic,” and brought an “animalistic nature” to his fights and a “wryness” to the way he spoke that worked really well. That's pretty high praise!
To that point, in the story for SFX Magazine on CinemaBlend, Batey went on to compliment how The Last Song actor took ownership of the iconic character. After he was welcomed, it seemed like he fit into the Witcher world seamlessly, as the Jaskier actor explained:
And Liam took total ownership of the role from day one. I remember our first rehearsals together, he came in with ideas about the script, and those creative conversations with the showrunner continued, because he has the one thing that I would ask of any collaborator – he turned up and cared.
Liam Hemsworth did say he felt like a kid on the first day of school when he put on the Geralt costume for the first time. However, his co-stars clearly explained that he was a natural when it came to playing The White Wolf.
It also simply sounds like he was a great guy to be around. Batey said that he and Hemsworth would really get each other laughing on set, and that “mischievous” behavior he described sounds delightful:
It helps that we make each other laugh, too. I tend to be the one who’s trying to make people corpse, but Liam can make me corpse pretty easily. We can get a bit mischievous occasionally.
All around, I’m so here for how The Witcher cast welcomed Liam Hemsworth into the fold. Taking over the role of Geralt is no small task. He literally stepped into the shoes of the beloved character, and a lot of pressure comes with that. So, to have a group of people who were so excited to welcome and work with him must have meant the world.
Now, to see this crew on screen together, you can stream Season 4 of The Witcher (which recently dropped on the 2025 TV schedule) with a Netflix subscription.
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