Oh, Netflix’s The Witcher TV series is back with its fourth series next month, following a lengthy hiatus that’s seen Geralt regenerate from Henry Cavill into Liam Hemsworth. The new series premieres in late October, and first official looks at both the HemsGerry and Laurence Fishburne as Blood and Wine vampire Regis have been offered.
Hang on a minute, I thought, when I scrolled past this news on one of the screens in my Adrian Veidt-esque world-watching setup – Laurence Fishburne’s in it? Yep, it seems that after not getting around to watching the third series, I’ve managed to completely blot out all knowledge that the actor behind The Matrix’s pill distributor is being cast in The Witcher.
Netflix announced season four’s October 30th arrival date yesterday, amid some sort of boxing fight that I’m sure paled in comparison to the scrap Gerry has with a Skelligean bear in The Witcher 3. With it came the first proper clip of Liam Hemsworth portraying Geralt, after Henry Cavill opted to make series three his last in the role.
I’m not sure new Geralt staring at a wraith that springs out of a tomb like a jack-in-the-box, before he casually removes its heart like someone gently unplugging a table lamp was meant to be as funny as I’ve found it. But otherwise it’s a decent, if pretty unremarkable, first glimpse at Hemsworth killing monsters.
Meanwhile, official photos have been put out, with one being of Fishburne as Regis, while others show Anya Chalotra and Freya Allan continuing as Yennefer and Ciri respectively. I’ll be honest, seeing what the former does is one of the few things that might persuade me to get back into this Witcher adaptation. I watched the first couple of series right after they came out, and while they certainly weren’t terrible, they didn’t grab me enough to stick around through series three.
There’s a good chance part of that’s just down to my enjoyment of The Witcher being much more firmly rooted in wielding the twin swords myself via CD Projekt’s games. I’ve read the books, but their tales aren’t the main thing that got me into Gerald from the Riviera’s adventures. Ok, you got me, I just like shots of hairy fantasy lads in the bath. That said, given the hiatus and departure of the series’ primary face in Cavill, Hemsworth’s got a tough task convincing those who were on the fence after series three.
Best of luck to him given that unenviable position, as well as both Chalotra and Allan, who I reckon did really well with what they were given in the first two series. Oh, and toss a coin song bloke, can’t forget about him either.
