The wait is almost over for The Witcher Season 3. While the third season of Netflix’s big hit will be in two parts, though only a few weeks apart in release, the big “storyline” that everyone is eager to find out more about is the transition between its lead actors. By that, we mean that the original actor for Geralt of Rivia, Henry Cavill, is departing after Season 3, and Liam Hemsworth will replace him starting in Season 4. But the question on everyone’s mind is how that will happen. Will it be a “simple change” that few people acknowledge in canon? Or will it be a “big event” that forces everyone to notice?
Executive Producers Steve Gaub and Tomek Baginski talked with Yahoo News about it, and they teased that there was a way to pull off a “meta” switch while still adhering to the lore of The Witcher books.
“We have a very, very good plan to introduce our new Geralt and our new vision for Geralt with Liam,” said Baginski. “Not going deeply into those ideas because this will be a huge spoiler, it’s also very, very close to the meta ideas which are deeply embedded in the books, especially in book five.
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.”
Some small spoilers ahead, you’ve been warned!
They’re likely referring to the story “The Lady of the Lake,” which is the fifth book of the franchise. In it, Ciri can go and take herself beyond her world and into a place where thousands of other worlds exist. Essentially, she enters a multiverse of world. It’s never specifically called that, but the intent is there, and our own Earth is a part of that menagerie of worlds.
So something may happen to Cavill’s Geralt within this space, and when Ciri goes to find him, she brings back Liam Hemsworth’s Geralt instead. It’s hard to say how everything will go down, but clearly, there is a plan here.
But that’s the rub, isn’t it? Just because you have a plan doesn’t make it a good plan. Fans of the books, games, and show have been adamant that the show’s lore diverges too much from the source material. So if they don’t pull it off well, this could push them over the edge.
