By The third season of Netflix’s The Witcher starring Henry cavill, Anya Clalotra and Freya Allan is only three days away and as part of the press junket we are getting more and more interviews.
This time executive producers Tomek Baginski and Steve Gaub gave their elaboration to Yahoo on how The Witcher intends to address the big white-haired elephant in the room.
The Cavill-Hemsworth transition is promised to be flawless
During the interview, Baginski spoke about how The Witcher is going to address the recasting of Geralt of Rivia when Season 4 is back on our screens, but it’s a different person we’re looking at.
“We have a very, very good plan to introduce our new Geralt and our new vision for Geralt with Liam. Not going deeply into those ideas because this will be a huge spoiler, [but] it’s also very, very close to the meta ideas which are deeply embedded in the books, especially in book five.“
Baginski continues: “It’s very lore accurate. It’s very close to what was set out in the books and I think this change will be quite flawless. But at the same time it will be a new Geralt, it will be a new face for this character and I think it will also be very, very exciting to see.“
It’s a curious comment Baginski made regarding the meta ideas especially in book five. The books don’t include any instance where Geralt suddenly has a whole new body and face, but perhaps these comments mean that Geralt will be a changed man moving forward, largely leaving his witcher days behind and focusing solely on finding Ciri.
That said, Geralt quitting being a witcher is something that happens in Tower of the Swallow, which is either book 4 or 6, depending on if you count the two short story collections. So this theory isn’t a perfect fit.
Producer Steve Gaub added about Henry Cavill’s exit and the last episodes we’ll see with him:
“I think the most important thing for us was to make sure he was very proud of those last [scenes], invariably those last moments are the ones you leave an audience with, and those last couple episodes are very strong episodes for him.
“I think he left with his head held high and passing the reins as many franchises end up doing, passing a title character from one actor to another, and we’re going to be in great hands with Liam.“
Henry Cavill himself addressed the fans in his recent Instagram post after his appearances at TUDUM in Brazil and the Witcher Fest in Poland:
“I just wanted to take a moment to say, officially, to the fans I met and stood in front of in Brazil, and Poland recently, that you have touched my heart. Thank you so very much. I want you to know that you are greatly appreciated. Thank you.”
Ciri to take the center stage from now on
But despite the Geralt change, the producers say it will be Ciri now at the center of it all, starting very soon. Something that also happens in the novels.
Baginski explains: “Time of Contempt is a really good book, some people say it’s the best book of the saga and it’s very rich in the story. I think this was very exciting to do, but especially for Freya.
He continued: “This is also the book where Ciri –let’s be blunt about this– becomes the main character of the saga, because this is how it was done in the books, and watching Ciri evolve, and watching Freya evolve as an actress in this season, was incredible, just incredible.“
Producer Steve Gaub added: “She knew it was coming, and she knew it was her time to step up centre stage and really carry a lot of massively important moments to the overall story.“
The Witcher Season 4 is in production for a 2025 release. Andrzej Sapkowski’s new Witcher book has a planned Winter 2024/2025 release with The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep anime set for a late 2024 release as well.
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Perhaps if they had stayed true to the story line, Henry wouldn’t have left? Very sad!!!!