The Witcher season 4's Liam Hemsworth recast makes complete sense for one key reason

The Witcher has fought all manner of monsters in his time, but four seasons in, the biggest threat to Geralt's existence might just be himself. Or at least, the new version of him that's been introduced in Netflix's latest season.

Whatever your thoughts on The Witcher might be, fans and detractors alike usually agree that Henry Cavill has been pivotal to the show's success. Whether he was drawing his sword or drawing a bath, Cavill's take on Geralt felt intrinsic to the story being told. It's as if he was born to play The Witcher.

So when Cavill suddenly left the show three seasons in, his exit understandably came as quite a shock. It was impossible for fans to imagine what The Witcher might look like without him, yet that's exactly what showrunner Lauren Schmidt-Hissrich was forced to do for the series to continue. Enter Liam Hemsworth, another statuesque bulk of a man who was asked to step in and take Cavill's place.

Long before pics of him donning the wig surfaced online, fans were already quick to denounce Hemsworth as being unfit for the task at hand. These were big shoes to fill, after all. Never mind that Liam is 6cm taller than Henry.

It didn't help that when trailers for season 4 did finally arrive, they included a scene where Hemsworth's Geralt rallies his friends by crying: "Let's f**king move."

For fans still invested in the show, this felt like a betrayal of sorts, a sign that The Witcher had lost its way. "Geralt would never say such a thing," they claimed, with others criticising Hemsworth's delivery of the line as well.

To be fair, Liam was going to be criticised regardless, no matter how good or bad he was in the role. Copy Cavill too closely and you're just a pale imitation of the real deal. Put your own stamp on the character and you risk losing Geralt's essence entirely.

This was always going to be a lose-lose situation for Hemsworth, at least at the beginning when fans would be most resistant to change. Plus, it's not exactly easy to pull off a white wig of that gloss and magnitude.

Yet even with all that going against Hemsworth, I'd argue his arrival in the show couldn't have come at a better time. In fact, replacing Cavill at this stage actually makes a lot of sense considering where Geralt himself is at in this stage of the character's journey.

Witchers don't typically involve themselves in the affairs of humans. As Geralt himself says in the fifth episode of this new season, people like him are "destined to kill monsters and make coin". Yet that's no longer true for this Witcher.

While this might hew closely to where he and this show first began, Geralt has been through a great deal these past three seasons. He's fallen in love with Yennefer, he's become a father of sorts to Ciri, and he's developed a somewhat homoerotic bromance with Jaskier too.

The Witcher's heart and soul has become enmeshed with humans more than even he could have ever expected, and that's also the case in season 4 when he ends up leading a new hanza bonded by friendship.

It wasn't where the Witcher saw himself heading, but here we are nonetheless. Over time, Geralt has become a friend, a lover, a father figure who's worlds removed now from the Geralt that Cavill first introduced to us at the start of season 1.

Season 4 goes to great pains to emphasise this. In Hemsworth's first episode, Jaskier states that Geralt "just hasn't been the same since his injuries, since he lost the ones he loved".

Nods to him changing, to Geralt embracing his emotions like never before, continue throughout, perhaps most noticeably when Laurence Fishburne's new character tells him that he's "evolving." And he's right to say it. The Geralt we once knew certainly wouldn't have trusted a vampire like Regis, for example.

Cynics might suggest this has been emphasised so strongly to differentiate Hemsworth's version of the role from Cavill, perhaps with a knowing nod and wink that's rather typical of the show in general.

But the truth is that Geralt's different anyway now. As such, any deviations from the Geralt we once knew can easily be explained away as such, which easily accounts for the different take Hemsworth inevitably brings to this character.

Does Liam match up to Henry? No, not quite, but there's more nuance to this than arguments that Hemsworth is simply "bad" in the role. What is clear, however, is that the new episodes don't live up to past seasons regardless.

If anything, that's what puts The Witcher in danger now. Not the 'new' Geralt, but lacklustre writing and directionless plotting that drags this season out far longer than necessary. In that regard, Hemsworth couldn't have signed up at a worse time.

The Witcher seasons 1-4 are available to stream on Netflix. Season 5 coming soon. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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