Summary
- The recasting of Geralt and the controversial changes to Ciri spell trouble for The Witcher season 4, which is already facing critical decline.
- Convincing audiences to accept Liam Hemsworth as Geralt will be a monumental challenge, as Henry Cavill perfectly embodied the character for three seasons.
- Ciri’s transformation into a darker character in season 4 could be controversial and may betray her core values, risking alienating viewers who are attached to Freya Allan’s portrayal.
The Witcher has a monolith-sized muddle on its hands thanks to the recasting of Geralt, but season 4 also promises hugely controversial changes to Ciri, spelling trouble for Netflix’s beleaguered fantasy franchise. Following a strong start upon its series premiere in 2019, The Witcher has found critical acclaim increasingly hard to come by, resulting in a poorly received The Witcher season 3 and the near-disastrous The Witcher: Blood Origin spinoff. Compounding that misery further, Henry Cavill is confirmed to have departed The Witcher after season 3. Rather than cut its losses, The Witcher will push forward with Liam Hemsworth replacing Cavill as Geralt.
Needless to say, convincing audiences to forget about Henry Cavill and embrace Liam Hemsworth as the new Geralt will be a monumental challenge for The Witcher season 4. An immensely popular figure, Cavill has perfectly embodied Andrzej Sapkowski’s white-haired warrior, carrying the entire series for three seasons. Rarely can a TV show recast its main character without facing ruin, and with The Witcher already down on its luck, the future looks grim without Cavill leading the way. While much of The Witcher season 4’s controversy will surround Geralt’s new face, however, another big character change could prove just as disruptive.
Ciri Will Become A Lot Darker In The Witcher Season 4 (& It’ll Be Controversial)
In a world where most characters straddle the line between good and evil, Freya Allan’s Ciri has typically represented the wholesome side of The Witcher, always championing right over wrong and demonstrating mercy when others would be ruthless. The Witcher season 3’s ending shows Ciri joining a bandit group known as the Rats. While not exactly villainous, the Rats fall closer to The Witcher‘s usual moral grayness. Ciri’s new pals typically steal from wealthy folk who can afford it, but the Rats as depicted in Sapkowski’s source material are also murderers who rob not just to survive, but because they revel in the lavishness of their ill-gotten gains.
As Ciri leans more into her “Falka” persona among the Rats in season 4, audiences will see a starkly different side to Freya Allan’s The Witcher character. Questions will be asked over whether Ciri’s newfound darkness betrays her core values, or reverses her previous character development. Game of Thrones‘ infamous Daenerys Targaryen ending twist highlights exactly why The Witcher will need to tread carefully as it brings Ciri away from virtuous heroism. If her new arc fails to unfold logically or moves too quickly, Ciri’s sudden personality switch will become a point of controversy for The Witcher season 4.
The Witcher’s Ciri Changes Make Season 4 Even Harder After Henry Cavill’s Exit
With its roots in the books, Ciri joining the Rats in The Witcher season 4 is a storyline that could potentially succeed. Alongside the recasting of Geralt from Henry Cavill to Liam Hemsworth, however, it could derail the Netflix adaptation entirely. Between Ciri joining a group of deadly bandits and Geralt looking like Katniss’ boyfriend from The Hunger Games, The Witcher season 4 is giving audiences a huge dollop of fundamental character change to digest in one gulp. The challenge of recasting Geralt alone risked destroying The Witcher – pulling a “Mad Queen” with Ciri only makes that transition harder.
With Yennefer the only member of The Witcher‘s central trio not scheduled for an overhaul in season 4, a very different TV show awaits. Taking a more optimistic stance, these changes do at least give The Witcher an opportunity to hit the metaphorical reset button following several years of critical decline. On the other hand, simultaneously making sweeping changes to both Geralt and Ciri means The Witcher season 4 will not only run the risk of courting controversy, but could also alienate viewers that have grown attached to Henry Cavill’s Geralt and Freya Allan’s Ciri, rather than Liam Hemsworth’s Geralt and Freya Allan’s Falka.