Netflix announces The Witcher is ending after Henry Cavill was recast in lead role
Netflix has announced that there will be two more seasons of The Witcher before the show comes to an end.
The streaming service shared the news on social media, along with the announcement that season four was in production, by releasing footage of a table read in a rather fine looking locale.
"It's official, The Witcher season 4 is in production," Netflix told The Witcher fans, who also got to see new Geralt actor Liam Hemsworth alongside the returning cast members.
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"But that's not all, we're already planning season 5, which will be the final season and bring this epic show to a fitting conclusion.
"See you on The Continent."
The Netflix show is having to deal with the departure of series lead Henry Cavill, who had confirmed ahead of the release of season three that it was going to be his last stint in the role of monster hunter Geralt of Rivia.
With Cavill's absence leaving The Witcher without a Witcher, the role of Geralt was recast and the departing Cavill announced that 'the fantastic Mr. Liam Hemsworth will be taking up the mantle of the White Wolf'.
He's got some big shoes to fill as while viewer opinion on The Witcher has been somewhat divided, pretty much everyone who saw the show could agree that Cavill was doing a damn good job as Geralt.
Still, the Superman actor seemed to be pretty excited to see what Hemsworth would do with the character as in his farewell message he spoke of his 'enthusiasm to see Liam’s take on this most fascinating and nuanced of men'.
"As a Witcher fan, I’m over the moon about the opportunity to play Geralt of Rivia," Hemsworth said in a statement.
"Henry Cavill has been an incredible Geralt, and I’m honored that he’s handing me the reins and allowing me to take up the White Wolf’s blades for the next chapter of his adventure.
"Henry, I’ve been a fan of yours for years and was inspired by what you brought to this beloved character.
"I may have some big boots to fill, but I’m truly excited to be stepping into The Witcher world."
The Witcher ending on five seasons is something of a departure from the comments made by showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich ahead of the release of the first season back in 2019.
Of course, a lot has happened since then, but just before season one of The Witcher was set to release on Netflix, Hissrich said she had 'seven seasons' worth of story mapped out.
Now it's down to five seasons to finish it all off and of those we've only got two left to get to the end of the story - which might be a bit of a tall order considering how much source material they've still got to work with.
In three seasons of the Netflix show, it has adapted two main story books worth of source material, Blood of Elves and Time of Contempt, and plucked a selection of the short stories from The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny collections.
If The Witcher is intent on following the main plot of the books to the end, then it has two seasons remaining to adapt Baptism of Fire, The Tower of the Swallow and The Lady of the Lake.
And dear reader, as I look up from the desk at which I write these words, I can actually see my own collection of Witcher books and can tell you that those final two tomes are noticeably thicker than those which preceded them.
There's a lot to get through and only two seasons left to do it in, is what I'm saying.
As of yet there's no word on when The Witcher season four will arrive on Netflix, but since the past three seasons have come in 2019, 2021 and 2023, you'd hope to see it at some point next year for the sake of neatness if nothing else.
Topics: Netflix, The Witcher, TV and Film
Joe Harker