The Witcher season 4 arrives on Netflix with a new White Wolf and a very old question: Can any actor other than Henry Cavill carry Geralt of Rivia? This penultimate run answers with bold structural choices, fresh faces from the books, and a reception that ranges from raves for ambition to barbed jabs about the recast.
The season premiered on October 30, 2025, with Netflix already confirming that season 5 will be the last, adapting Andrzej Sapkowski’s Baptism of Fire, The Tower of the Swallow, and Lady of the Lake alongside season 4’s material.
In this comprehensive guide, BuddyTV breaks down how the show explains the change from Cavill to Liam Hemsworth, the big swings in the finale, who’s playing whom, and how critics and fans are reacting so far.
How season 4 explains the Liam Hemsworth recast — on-screen and in-story
Showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich and the writers chose to address the new Geralt in the very first minutes of the premiere. Hissrich says the team opted to “allude to it slightly in the opening sequence,” framing the tale as a story being told — and retold — by different narrators. “We wanted to play with the idea, which is a huge theme in The Witcher, of how stories change depending on who is telling them,” she explains. Hissrich adds that the production “reshot pivotal moments” with Hemsworth to ensure viewers recognize they are now seeing this legend through a different lens. “We wanted to not dance around the fact that this is a new human being,” she says.
Hemsworth, who prepared for months — costumes, wigs, swordwork — admits the first days “were daunting,” but says, “By the time I stepped on set, I was feeling really good.” Co-star Anya Chalotra, whose Yennefer spends most of the season on her own mission, frames the chemistry reset as story-first: “[She is] on a very separate journey [from Geralt and Ciri]. We’ve all got individual experiences.” (TVLine interview)
Where season 4 sits in the saga — release, structure, and what’s next
Season 4 is streaming now (October 30, 2025). Netflix has already greenlit season 5, filmed back-to-back, and together the final two seasons adapt Sapkowski’s trilogy — Baptism of Fire, The Tower of the Swallow, and Lady of the Lake. Axios summarizes the current “state of play”: Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri are separated and each traveling the war-torn Continent with new allies, while the show marches toward its confirmed conclusion next season. (Axios, Oct. 30, 2025.)
Cast & characters: the complete season 4 roster mentioned across sources
- Geralt of Rivia — Liam Hemsworth. The new White Wolf anchors a re-shot tapestry of “pivotal moments” that reorients the legend. (TVLine)
- Yennefer — Anya Chalotra. A sorceress on a separate campaign who rallies mages and, late in the season, reunites with Geralt. “[It] always comes back to story.” (TVLine)
- Ciri — Freya Allan. On a harrowing arc tied to The Tower of the Swallow, facing the mercenary Leo Bonhart (played by Sharlto Copley). Allen says: “For Ciri, it’s as low as it’s ever got.” (RadioTimes)
- Jaskier (aka Julian Alfred Pankratz, Viscount of Lettenhove) — Joey Batey. The bard’s book “A Half Century of Poetry” is woven into the season’s story device. (TVLine; RadioTimes)
- Milva — Meng’er Zhang. A key member of Geralt’s traveling “hansa,” with a crucial return during the river battle. (The Guardian; RadioTimes)
- Zoltan — Danny Woodburn. An amiable dwarf who joins Geralt and Jaskier. (The Guardian; RadioTimes)
- Regis — Laurence Fishburne. The charismatic vampire joins the party and tends to the wounded. (Reuters; RadioTimes)
- Cahir — Eamon Farren. Fights alongside Geralt during the Yaruga crossing. (RadioTimes)
- Queen Meve — monarch of Lyria and Rivia; central to Geralt’s knighthood moment. (RadioTimes)
- Fringilla — Mimî M. Khayisa; Philippa — Cassie Clare; Triss — Anna Shaffer; Sabrina — Therica Wilson-Read; Francesca — Mecia Simson. The sorceresses’ ranks and the Lodge storyline take shape. (RadioTimes)
- Emhyr var Emreis — Bart Edwards; Skellen — James Purefoy. Political machinations escalate in Nilfgaard. (RadioTimes)
- Vilgefortz — pursued following the Thanedd fallout; his dagger trail leads to Stygga. (RadioTimes)
- Teryn (“false Ciri”) — Frances Pooley. Moves within Nilfgaard’s plot. (RadioTimes)
- Xarthisius — pushes a prophetic line about “parallel destinies.” (RadioTimes)
- Nimue and Stribog — storytellers who frame the season’s “how legends are told” device. (TVLine; RadioTimes)
Major plot beats — battles, knighthood, and a grim finale
Several sequences draw directly from Sapkowski’s middle novels and are staged here with new resonance around a different face of Geralt. On the River Yaruga, Geralt’s “hansa” — Jaskier, Regis, Cahir, Zoltan, and a returning Milva — become entangled as Northern and Nilfgaardian forces clash. The skirmish crescendos into the Battle for the Bridge on the Yaruga and a decisive assist for Queen Meve. In the aftermath, Geralt is knighted “Geralt of Rivia,” a beat Hemsworth calls wryly complicated: “This is funny, and now you belong to me forever.” He adds, “It’s funny and ironic to him… but it’s definitely gonna create some complications.”
Elsewhere, Yennefer fails to capture Vilgefortz at Montecalvo and then catalyzes the Lodge of Sorceresses, a deliberate departure from the books in this timeframe. Hissrich explains: “There are moments that are completely ripped from the books, and then we also have to do some different things.” She stresses, “We always try to stick to the spirit of The Witcher.”
The season’s darkest turn belongs to Ciri. In and around the Chimera’s Head, the Rats’ ambush of Leo Bonhart backfires savagely, shoving her toward one of the saga’s most traumatic chapters. Allan says the fallout “is going to be embedded in her forever.” (RadioTimes)
Reception so far — a split-screen of praise, skepticism, and sharp elbows
Early critical reaction is strikingly polarized. In a star rating that sets the tone for one side of the debate, the UK’s Guardian stamped season 4 with “2 out of 5 stars,” and memorably zings Hemsworth as “as charismatic as a bollard in a wig.” The same review quips about the tone “lurching” between “Game of Thrones-y glumness” and 90s-style wandering heroics, and teases the new Zoltan as an “amiable dwarf with an explosive beard and wisecracking parrot” whose sample gag is literally “asshole.” (The Guardian, Oct. 30, 2025.)
Fans, meanwhile, are loudly keeping score. One viewer declares, “Henry will always be my Geralt.” Another, less damning voice counters that Hemsworth is “doing Geralt justice,” while arguing “the story balance is far too favored towards Yennefer this season.” (The Independent, Oct. 30, 2025.)
Industry coverage frames the handoff more optimistically. Reuters reports that Hissrich views season 4 as a tonal and visual “refresh,” with Hemsworth bringing a drier humor while the show invests in new emotional bonds after splitting the trio. It also notes that Laurence Fishburne joins as Regis and that seasons 4 and 5 were filmed in tandem, adapting the final three books. (Reuters, Oct. 29, 2025.)
Inside the writers’ room — the narrative device and what it unlocks
Hissrich’s meta-frame is more than a one-scene explanation; it’s a thesis for how legends mutate. The premiere introduces Nimue and Stribog, then nods to Jaskier’s memoir, A Half Century of Poetry. As Hissrich tells TVLine, the device invites viewers to consider that “maybe everything that we’ve seen over the last three seasons has been through someone’s POV.” That opens clean lanes to reshoot past milestones with Hemsworth and to emphasize the idea that legends outlive faces.
What this means for the endgame (and for Henry Cavill’s shadow)
The season’s best ideas lean into subjectivity and memory. If the show continues to revisit and refract Geralt’s history, the final chapter can reconcile a divided fandom by making the multiplicity of storytellers the point. The Lodge arc shores up Yennefer’s agency in a book stretch where she is “off-page quite a bit,” while the Yaruga knighthood locks in Geralt’s place in Rivia ahead of the saga’s political endgame. None of that eliminates the Cavill-sized absence; it merely acknowledges that a legend persists because people keep retelling it.
Ending explained — the key season 4 takeaways
- Geralt’s knighthood: Meve’s accolade formally dubs him “Geralt of Rivia,” a title that binds him politically and, as Hemsworth notes, may “create some complications.” (RadioTimes)
- The Lodge forms: After the failed strike on Vilgefortz, Yennefer gathers Triss, Philippa, Sabrina, Francesca, and Fringilla to rebuild Aretuza and protect Ciri. (RadioTimes)
- Ciri’s ordeal: The Bonhart massacre pushes her into the saga’s darkest corridor; Allan calls it “as low as it’s ever got.” (RadioTimes)
- The stalker in the shadows: Emhyr and Skellen weaponize a beast using Renfri’s brooch and Xarthisius’s prophecy, teasing the final hunt. (RadioTimes)
- Narrative device: Nimue, Stribog, and Jaskier’s book “A Half Century of Poetry” set up The Tower of the Swallow and Lady of the Lake. (TVLine; RadioTimes)
What to expect in the confirmed final season
With seasons 4 and 5 shot back-to-back, viewers shouldn’t have to wait long for the conclusion. Netflix’s endgame is set: adapt Baptism of Fire, The Tower of the Swallow, and Lady of the Lake while the trio converges again. Axios underlines that season 5 is already greenlit, and the story emphasis remains on a separated but steadily realigning Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri.
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Bottom line: Should you watch The Witcher season 4?
Yes, especially if you want to see how a major fantasy franchise handles a mantle pass in the text itself. Hemsworth’s debut will divide, sometimes sharply — “as charismatic as a bollard in a wig,” in one acidic line — yet the season’s structural gambit, knighthood pivot, and brutal Ciri arc make this chapter impossible to skip before the finale. For newcomers and die-hards alike, The Witcher season 4 is the bridge you must cross to reach destiny.
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