It’s been a few weeks now since The Witcher Season 3, Vol. 2 ending made some big reveals about where we’ll next see Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer in their dangerous travels on the Continent. The season really pulled fans in many different directions, as our main trio’s family-like time together at the start quickly gave way to more tragedy, desperate measures, and them having to separate once again, which will lead to some intriguing new adventures for all involved when Season 4 finally comes around.
Of course, as it’s still early days, there are many things we don’t know about the new episodes. But! That doesn’t mean we haven’t heard anything about what’s to come in the fourth season of the epic fantasy that those with a Netflix subscription have turned out for in the millions. Below, you’ll find some information about what’s to come on The Witcher now that star Henry Cavill has departed, so let’s get into it!
What Is The Witcher Season 4 Release Date?
Unfortunately, as of August 2023, we don’t yet know when The Witcher Season 4 will hit its streaming home. The third season just released its final episodes on July 27, so while we’ve known that another outing is planned since October 2022 (when Henry Cavill announced he was leaving on Instagram), it will be a while before they even begin filming, as we’ll get into more a bit later.
Liam Hemsworth Is Taking Over As Geralt From Henry Cavill
The news that the sword-swinging drama had been renewed came with a sad and shocking announcement for fans, as Cavill also revealed that he was stepping away from his post, with The Hunger Games’ Liam Hemsworth taking over as Geralt in Season 4.
This made fans angry enough to start a petition, which basically blamed the writers for not respecting the source material. Some have also recently come to Hemsworth’s defense, however, as some promos were thought to throw the Season 4 star under the bus. Time will tell if the fans still upset over Cavill leaving will actually return to the series for Hemsworth’s debut.
The Rest Of The Cast Is Expected To Return
Thankfully, we’ve heard nothing right now about anyone else in the extensive cast (whose character survived the third season, anyway) bowing out. This means that we expect to see Freya Allan and Anya Chalotra return as Ciri and Yennefer, respectively, along with talent like Joey Batey (Jaskier), Mimî M. Khayisa (Fringilla), Eamon Farren (Cahir), Mahesh Jadu (Vilgefortz), Anna Shaffer (Triss), Royce Pierreson (Istredd), Mecia Simson (Francesca), Meng’er Zhang (Milva), and many more.
Geralt, Yennefer, And Ciri Are All Heading In New Directions For Season 4
As we saw by the finale of Season 3, not only are Geralt, Yen, and Ciri split up again, but they now have to forge ahead separately to try to continue keeping Ciri safe. After a heroic season for Geralt, which led to him being seriously injured, he was last seen heading to Nilfgaard. Word had gone out that Emhyr had finally captured Ciri and taken her to his court, though it was actually Teryn that his mage accomplice brought to him, but Geralt and his traveling companions don’t know that.
Showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich told Tudum in early August 2023 that the White Wolf will, again, see his “boundaries tested” as he becomes attached to yet another found family in his mission to rescue Ciri from Emhyr. She added:
This is the beginning of what [book] fans will know as the Hanza. It’s the group traveling with Geralt for the rest of the books. This becomes his newfound family…He needs help to get Yennefer and Ciri back, and when you need to help, you actually have to give of yourself as well. So, we start to watch the Hanza build and start to see that there are some amazing emotional connections to come there as well.
When he was (just barely) done recuperating from his injuries, he left with Jaskier, and the archer, Milva, to locate his Child of Surprise. And, what a surprise it will be when he gets to the palace and realizes it’s not Ciri.
Yen is also attempting to save Ciri, but on her own, as she’s now the leader of Aretuza after Tissaia’s death. Schmidt Hissrich confirmed that the sorceress will have “big choices to make” as she tries to figure out how to lead her fellow mages.
Ciri will also have a new task, now that she will have her own new family of sorts in the Rats, the young group of criminals she found herself thrown together with in the finale. The showrunner said that the princess will be struggling with the choice she’s made “for her future” to become “Falka,” and we’ll find out if she has simply chosen not to use her powers, or if she did “actually magically relinquish” them.
All in all, it sounds like it’ll be a grand ol’ time of continued emotional struggle for our favorite characters!
We'll Find Out More About Vilgefortz And His Plan
I never fully trusted Vilgefortz, though it’s clear that Tissaia and others were fully fooled and had no clue he was working with Nilfgaard. The upcoming set of episodes will reveal more about him and his plan, however, like just how many of the events we’ve seen so far have been a part of it. Schmidt Hissrich told Tudum:
More of [the mechanics of his plan] will be revealed in Season 4. The questions that our characters need to be asking [going into] Season 4 [are], ‘Why is he doing this?’ and ‘How is he doing this?’ When did Vilgefortz find Emhyr? Was it recently, when Ciri’s power first started to explode? Because we know that Emhyr came for her in Season 1 and burned down Cintra. Was Vilgefortz involved in that?
She added that there were “breadcrumbs that we have laid out to see how [Vilgefortz and Emhyr] align,” and that “there’s a lot more going on [with] their past — and their future.” Sounds juicy, indeed!
A Plan Is In Place To Explain The New Geralt For Season 4
Many fans have wondered if there will be a story reason given for Geralt’s obviously different appearance in Season 4. While this makes me very worried that something extremely convoluted is on the way, executive producer Tomek Bagiński revealed to Yahoo UK in June 2023 that they plan to employ something “very lore accurate” that’s “very, very close to the meta ideas which are deeply embedded in the books, especially in book five” to explain the switch. So, hopefully, we’ll get a better idea of what this might be before too much longer.
Liam Hemsworth Has Already Done Some Work With The Creative Team
Our new Geralt did seem thrilled about his gig right after he was announced, and he’s gotten right to work (as much as he can), as he's already been worked with the creative team a bit. Locations manager/production designer Andrew Laws and costume designer Lucinda Wright both spoke to Metro in July 2023, and said that they’d already met with Hemsworth, with Laws noting they’d talked about “preliminary concept ideas for things.”
Production Has Been Delayed Until 2024, But Some Scripts Are Completed
Assuming you’re still excited to see what’s coming up next on The Witcher, this is a bit of bad news for you. In July 2023, Redanian Intelligence reported that the start of filming had been pushed from September to some time in 2024. No reason was given, but it’s not impossible that the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes have at least a bit to do with the change.
However, it’s not all bad news, as when Andrew Laws talked to Metro, he did say “we do have scripts” so that they could begin coming up with location and set ideas. We don’t know how many episodes are completely written, but at least they won’t be starting from scratch when they finally have a chance to begin filming.
I don’t know about you, but I think this is certainly enough for fans to chew on until we know more about what’s to come!
