By Exactly one week ago it was announced that Henry Cavill would be stepping down from his role as Geralt of Rivia and Liam Hemsworth would be his replacement from Season 4 and onward. The news surely shook the Witcher fandom and now there are more details on how it happened on the Liam side of things.
Liam Hemsworth was a frontrunner for Geralt of Rivia before
Sources told us that Liam Hemsworth, 32, was among the frontrunners for the role of Geralt of Rivia back in 2018, when the role was initially being cast. We don’t know whether he was second behind Cavill or in the Top-3 or Top-5, but he was definitely among the favorites.
So as a result, this casting in 2022 didn’t come out of nowhere as at the time they did like Hemsworth for the role as well. They just liked Henry Cavill more in the end.
This means, we’re told, there was no extensive casting process this time around. The producers likely went back and revisited the old casting tapes for Geralt and among the top frontrunners and picked Liam Hemsworth.
All of this was done sometime in the second half of Summer 2022, when Season 3 of The Witcher was still in production.
On a side note, back in 2018, there were rumors that Sebastian Stan was a frontrunner for the role of Geralt, but that was never confirmed or ever commented on.
In any case, Season 4 of The Witcher won’t start filming approximately until the second half of 2023, meaning the release date may likely go back to the traditional December spot in 2024. Fans will have around two years to warm up to the idea of a new Geralt of Rivia.
Season 3 of The Witcher is in post-production for a Summer 2023 release. The live-action prequel The Witcher: Blood Origin has been set a Christmas 2022 release. Stay tuned to Redanian Intelligence and do pop into our Discord server to join in on The Witcher conversation.
