We're just over a month away from the release of The Witcher Season 3 on Netflix, but before that, we're learning much of what to expect from this climactic season. At least, climactic for Henry Cavill, who will be leaving the lead role of the show after its third season.
Actors leaving always places showrunners in a tough spot. In a discussion with Total Film Magazine (via GamesRadar+), The Witcher showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich laid out the options she had after learning of Cavill's decision to leave.
"I mean, we had the choice to have Geralt exit and to end the show. [But] that’s not something that we were willing to do," explained Hissrich. "There’s just too many stories left to tell."
Unwilling to end the show (a wise choice, given how successful The Witcher is with fans), Hissrich was left with two choices: they could either replace Geralt as a character or they could recast him with another actor. And one option immediately became more palatable than the other.
"If we replaced Geralt with another Witcher, we would be going fully away from the books," Hissrich said, "and I don’t think that’s what anyone wanted either."
The choice then was for Hunger Games actor Liam Hemsworth to replace Cavill starting in Season 4. It was a difficult decision, Hissrich admits, but one she feels was ultimately the right call.
"We’re all excited about Liam coming in," she said "He’s got enormous shoes to fill, but also has a lot of energy and a lot of excitement for it. It’s obviously a brand-new chapter for us. And there’s a lot of feelings involved. But at the end of the day, we love what we’re doing. So we’re gonna keep going."
As for what fans can expect, we've already heard from Jaskier actor Joey Batey that Season 3 will be "fairly representative of what happens in the text," with the continent's great powers all struggling for control--and with Ciri and Geralt caught in the middle.
However, it won't be entirely about conflict. Hissich said, "The core of The Witcher is all about family, and this is the point at which our family finally gets a chance to be together for the first time and actually start imagining a future together. And so I was really excited to finally deliver that promise to the audience… to get to that place where there could be some happiness. But it’s The Witcher… so of course that doesn’t last!"
Part one of The Witcher Season 3 arrives on June 29, while part two will hit July 27, but only on Netflix.