One of the most tumultuous recasting news items in recent years — on the fantasy TV series front, at least — arrived in 2022 when “The Witcher” announced that Liam Hemsworth would replace Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia. Because of this, “The Witcher” Season 4 featured an effectively “reborn” Geralt.
Hemsworth spoke about the situation in an exclusive interview with Entertainment Weekly. “It came out of nowhere,” he said, recalling the offer to play Geralt. “I was as surprised as anyone.”
Fans online were less than thrilled about the recasting news, and through no fault of his own, Hemsworth caught plenty of strays in the discussions that followed. However, the actor had the tools to ignore the ruckus and focus on his work (possibly due to being the brother of Marvel Cinematic Universe superstar Chris Hemsworth, and therefore a veteran of dealing with drive-by comparisons). “There was quite a bit of noise and I had to put that aside,” said Hemsworth. “It started to become a distraction. I dealt with that sort of thing in the past a lot and, you know, at the end of the day, I love making movies and I love telling stories and acting. I just don’t want any of that to affect my way of telling the story that I’m trying to tell. I jumped off social media and the internet most of last year.”
The makers of the show saw Hemsworth as a natural successor to Cavill
The biggest weight Hemsworth felt before donning Geralt’s armor and white wig was, understandably, the sheer quality of Cavill’s work in the role. “I’m a massive fan of Henry’s, and I’m a fan of what he did in the show,” he said in the Entertainment Weekly interview. Still, Cavill was quick to give his seal of approval to his successor. “I pass the torch with reverence for the time spent embodying Geralt and enthusiasm to see Liam’s take on this most fascinating and nuanced of men,” Cavill stated in the wake of one of the most shocking cast exits of 2022. “Liam, good sir, this character has such a wonderful depth to him, enjoy diving in and seeing what you can find.”
In Entertainment Weekly, “Witcher” creator and showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich confirmed that, unbeknownst to Hemsworth, the actor had been on the show’s radar for quite a while as Cavill’s departure became more and more likely. “His name has been out there for a very long time,” she confirmed.
Hissrich also shed light on why Cavill ended up leaving the role. “He had plans for other roles that he really wanted to commit himself to,” she said. “And for us, you don’t want to hold someone and force them to be doing something that they don’t want to do. I think that’s why it felt like a really symbiotic decision.”