The Witcher season 4—not to be confused with the upcoming The Witcher 4 game—is very nearly upon us. We're that close to release, there's even footage of Liam Hemsworth's new Geralt of Rivia speaking in the trailers now. And whatever you may think of it, at least it makes a change from Hemsworth just looking moodily into the camera.
The world of The Witcher has been expanding a lot in the past few years between multiple live action and animated Netflix productions, comic adaptations by Dark Horse, more Witcher games in the works from CD Projekt Red, and even a new addition to the list of Witcher books by original author Andrzej Sapkowski.
It'll be a while before the new game's out, though, so let's look ahead at what's most imminent: season 4 of Netflix's The Witcher show. Here's what we know about the release date, who's been cast, the trailers and the plot for season 4.
Is there a release date for The Witcher season 4?
With the date coming in rather hot, at the beginning of the month it premieres in, it's now known that The Witcher season 4 is releasing on Thursday, October 30. The news came alongside the first big trailer for season 4.
This is classic Netflix here, with its minimal marketing and last-minute announcements, so no need to worry too much about why the streaming giant has been keeping rather hush about season 4.
While it hasn't been definitely confirmed by Netflix, it's very likely that all eight episodes of season 4 will release at once on October 30, following the trend of the first two seasons. If it were going to be released in two parts, like season 3, we're sure Netflix would have mentioned this in the trailer or in an official press release, like they've done in the past.
Something we do know for sure though, is that season 5 (The Witcher's final season) was shot back-to-back with season 4, according to Netflix, so the wait between the two final seasons will likely be shorter than the two year wait between other seasons.
The Witcher season 4 trailers
Latest trailer
Oh hey, we finally get to hear Liam Hemsworth talking as Geralt in this trailer, and it's... different. I'm sure we'll get used to it over the course of the last two seasons, but the snippets we can hear from this trailer do seem a bit jarring when compared to Henry Cavill's grittier vocals. If you want a better look at how Hemsworth is playing Geralt, you can also check out a small teaser showing off a full Geralt scene.
There's a lot more going on in this trailer than just Geralt speaking though, including a glimpse at Laurence Fishburne playing Emiel Regis Rohellec Terzieff-Godefroy, and Danny Woodburn as Zoltan Chivay.
First look trailer
The first trailer for The Witcher season 4 was an extremely short teaser that just gave us a look at new lead Liam Hemsworth as Geralt of Rivia. Hemsworth doesn't even get to speak in that teaser, so it's really hard to tell just from this how he's going to play the role, but he sure is wearing a white wig. At least the latest trailer, above this one, gives us a lot more Hemsworth to scrutinize.
Who's been cast in The Witcher season 4?
Season 4 of The Witcher will feature a lot of returning cast including the main trio of Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri with bard tagalong Jaskier. The cast of sorcerers, sorceresses, and other political elements will also largely be returning. Of course we've long known that Geralt has been recast with Liam Hemsworth, but it turns out that Geralt's mentor Vesemir was also recast, and will now be played by Peter Mullan.
Here's a list of the Witcher season 4's confirmed returning characters:
- Liam Hemsworth - Geralt
- Anya Chalotra - Yennefer
- Freya Allan - Ciri
- Joey Batey - Jaskier
- Peter Mullan - Vesemir
- Graham McTavish - Dijkstra
- Cassie Clare - Philippa Eilhart
- Mahesh Jadu - Vilgefortz
- Christelle Elwin - Mistle
- Meng’er Zhang - Milva
- Eamon Farren - Cahir
- Anna Shaffer - Triss
- Bart Edwards - Emperor Emhyr
As for new characters, the show will be adding in members of upcoming story arcs for both Ciri and Geralt. Here's the new cast with confirmed roles so far:
- Laurence Fishburne - Regis
- Sharlto Copley - Leo Bonhart
- James Purefoy - Stefan Skellen
- Danny Woodburn - Zoltan Chivay
- Linden Porco - Percival Schuttenbach
- Eve Ridley - Nimue
- Clive Russell - Stribog
- Jack Myers - Roderick de Wett (the only character who is exclusive to the The Witcher games)
What will the plot of season 4 be?
According to Netflix, the fourth and fifth seasons of the show will cover the three remaining Witcher books: Baptism of Fire, The Tower of the Swallow, and Lady of the Lake. Season 4 will likely cover through to the ending of The Tower of the Swallow and leave Lady of the Lake for season 5.
"This is the beginning of what fans [of the books] will know as the Hanza. It's the group traveling with Geralt for the rest of the books. This becomes his newfound family," explained series showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich. "He begins to realize that he needs help to get Yennefer and Ciri back, and when you need to help, you actually have to give of yourself as well. So, we start to watch the Hanza build and start to see that there are some amazing emotional connections to come there as well."
Based on the cast reveals so far, it looks like season 4 will probably smash together the timelines of Baptism of Fire and The Tower of the Swallow. In the books, Geralt, Ciri, and Yennefer are all separated during that time as the war between the Nilfgaardian Empire and the northern kingdoms kicks off in earnest.
After being ripped away from Ciri and Yennefer, Geralt spends time establishing a new group of unlikely comrades traversing the front lines of the war as he searches for information on Ciri's whereabouts. Yennefer is also searching for Ciri, though she gets caught up in establishing the lodge of sorceresses in the aftermath of the political upheaval that Vilgefortz dragged the magical community into. Meanwhile Ciri goes into hiding and takes the alias Falka to journey with a young group of outlaws called The Rats, later going on the run from bounty hunter Leo Bonhart.
The pacing of the novels is frankly weird at the best of times, especially in Baptism of Fire where Geralt's new group meanders for the majority of the story. I would expect for season 4 to diverge from the books and attempt to give equal time to all three main heroes. I'm speculating, but I'd bet that the show will play with the timeline of Ciri's sections so that her travels with The Rats don't get as glossed over and instead overlap more with the confrontations with Bonhart rather than leaving Ciri to tackle that part of the plot solo.
The Witcher series recaps
If you want a more detailed rehash of the story so far, you can find our episode recaps for seasons 1 and 2 below followed by a review of the first half of season 3.
Season 1 recap
- The End's Beginning
- Four Marks
- Betrayer Moon
- Of Banquets, Bastards, and Burials
- Bottled Appetites
- Rare Species
- Before a Fall
- Much More
Season 2 recap
- A grain of truth
- Kaer Morhen
- What is lost
- Redanian Intelligence
- Turn your back
- Dear friend
- Voleth Meir
- Family
Season 3 recap
Season 3 volume 1 review: An aggressive goodbye to Henry Cavill in a season full of thrills and kills
