Liam Hemsworth's Reign As Geralt In The Witcher Will Lean Into The Meta Of Book Five

Recasts are common in Hollywood, but these days, a lead actor recast in a TV show is rare enough to garner headlines and a whole lot of intense feedback. Minor supporting character recasts are distracting enough — think the rotating door of Bobby Drapers on "Mad Men," or bearded Daario Naharis on "Game of Thrones" — but to replace a famous actor who's number one on the call sheet with someone else midway through a massive series is a risky move at best.

It's exactly what ended up happening to Netflix's high fantasy saga "The Witcher," though, as star Henry Cavill chose to leave the show after season 3 (an announcement that came right around his premature return as Superman). The streamer has split the show's third season into two parts, so fans won't know exactly what Cavill's farewell looks like until July, but that hasn't stopped many of them from voicing a disinterest in season 4, which will star Liam Hemsworth.

For me, a recast is only as good as its explanation in-universe. The Bobby Drapers of the world look similar enough to be switched out as needed, but an obvious and unexplained physical change — like the Terrence Howard to Don Cheadle switch in the "Iron Man" films, for example — is tougher to buy into. Luckily, "The Witcher" executive producer Tomek Baginski assured Yahoo that the show isn't just going to swap a British hunk out for an Australian one and hope we don't notice. "I don't want to get too emotional, but it was a great journey to have Henry Cavill on this show and we will miss him," Baginski told the outlet, "But, at the same time, we have a very, very good plan to introduce our new Geralt and our new vision for Geralt with Liam."

What's that you say? This fantasy show that has already featured one main character permanently physically transforming herself will find a way to explain an actor change in-universe? It may not be a surprise, but it's certainly a relief to hear that the handover might be smoothed out by the show's narrative. According to Baginski, the writers even found a way to do so that stays pretty consistent with the books."Not going deeply into those ideas because this will be a huge spoiler," he noted, but the recast plot is "also very, very close to the meta ideas which are deeply embedded in the books, especially in book five."

Fans of Andrzej Sapkowski's book series will no doubt start theorizing about what this could mean immediately, but the saga's somewhat convoluted numbering system could help protect the big spoiler from getting out. While the fifth novel in the series is technically 1999's "The Lady of the Lake," Sapkowski has also written short stories that make "Time of Contempt," the book the latest batch of Netflix shows is pulling from, the fifth book by some measures. Volume 1 of the new season ends on a famed plot point from "Time of Contempt," but judging by Baginski's assertion that the narrative choice is "meta," he may well have been talking about the "The Lady of the Lake" after all. That book includes a framing narrative in which a character looks back on the story of Geralt and Yennefer (Anya Chalotra in the adaptation), now a historical legend, as it was told hundreds of years earlier.

Could that framing device possibly be used to recast Geralt? If the story pulls back to reveal that it's actually part of an oral tradition being re-examined centuries later, it makes sense that some details might change from source to source or get lost in translation. Is it possible that the point in "The Lady of the Lake" when the storyteller's perspective shifts could lead to a rather on-the-nose reimagining of the characters? This is possible, but if it does happen, I'm curious about how the show would explain only switching up one character instead of all of them. Plus, in a world full of magical mages, it seems like it would be easier to simply come up with a spell or curse that would alter Geralt's look. The fifth book also features some serious portal transportation, which means "The Witcher" could at some point open itself up to explore variations on its world.

Viewers won't see what the series has in store until it returns in late July for volume 2, but in the meantime, we can rest assured that Cavill's exit is apparently a pretty great one. "I think the most important thing for us was to make sure he was very proud of those last [scenes]," producer Steve Gaub told Yahoo. "Invariably those last moments are the ones you leave an audience with, and those last couple episodes are very strong episodes for him." In general, season 3 has been an improvement for the sometimes inconsistent show, as the first episode drop features a satisfying plot in which Geralt and Yennefer forge a strong familial bond with Ciri (Freya Allan), the girl whose destiny is set to shape the future of their world.

"The Witcher" season 3 volume 2 hits Netflix on July 27, 2023.