When The Witcher arrives on Netflix with its fourth and penultimate season, it will be with a new actor playing Geralt of Rivia. As we're sure you're aware, Man of Steel star Henry Cavill left the series shortly after season 3, with The Hunger Games star Liam Hemsworth quickly announced as his replacement.
The brother of Thor star Chris Hemsworth has two seasons to show what he can do as the fan-favourite character and a lot to prove given how beloved Cavill's interpretation of the Andrzej Sapkowski creation remains among fans.
After issuing a brief statement when he was cast, Hemsworth has elaborated on what it's been like to play the character in an interview with Speaking on Live with Kelly & Mark (via GameFragger.com).
Admitting he hadn't previously watched the Netflix series or read the books when he got the call, Hemsworth revealed he had played The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which he - quite rightly - called "one of the best video games of all time."
"I hadn’t seen the TV show. And I hadn’t read the books. But I played the video game like ten years ago or something," the actor explained. "And it’s still to this day one of the best video games of all time. And Netflix came to me almost two years ago now and said that they wanted me to just step in and take over."
"I was really excited by taking on that character because I was a fan of the video game. But I said, you know, let me watch the TV show and have a look at the books and really get stuck into it."
"I’ve been shooting [the show] for the past nine months," Hemsworth continued. "We were [in Wales] for two weeks. And the first week was beautiful sunshine, blue skies. And then the second week was kind of like tornado season."
Hemsworth has clearly embraced the challenge of playing Geralt and will be joined in The Witcher season 4 by Anya Chalotra, Freya Allan, Joey Batey, Sharlto Copley, James Purefoy, Laurence Fishburne, and Danny Woodburn.
After the shocking, Continent-altering events that close out season three, the new season follows Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri who are faced with traversing the war-ravaged Continent and its many demons apart from each other. If they can embrace and lead the groups of misfits they find themselves in, they have a chance of surviving the baptism of fire - and finding one another again.
We don't have a confirmed premiere date, but The Witcher is expected to return to Netflix in 2025.