Netflix has announced via its official website that Henry Cavill is out as Geralt of Rivia, with Liam Hemsworth recast as The Witcher protagonist for the newly-announced Season 4 and (presumably) beyond. The Witcher's third season is set to debut in the summer and will be Cavill's last hurrah as Geralt of Rivia.
"As with the greatest of literary characters, I pass the torch with reverence for the time spent embodying Geralt and enthusiasm to see Liam's take on this most fascinating and nuanced of men," Cavill said in a post shared to Instagram. "Liam, good sir, this character has such a wonderful depth to him, enjoy diving in and seeing what you can find."
Henry Cavill, I'm low-stakes callin' you out: You said you were game for seven seasons of The Witcher if Netflix would let you. Explain yourself.
The recasting will surely come as a disappointment for many fans. We like Henry Cavill over here at PC gamer because he's one of us, and he's done a pretty good job drawing out Geralt's emotional and intellectual complexity. Does Liam Hemsworth paint miniatures? Does he build gaming PCs? We don't know, and we are characteristically afraid of the unknown.
It's not certain, but I'm willing to bet Cavill's departure from the Netflix show has something to do with him returning to Warner Bros' DC Comics movies as Superman. Cavill previously took a break from filming The Witcher Season 3 to make a cameo in the recently-released Black Adam.
On Hemsworth's Instagram, meanwhile, the actor said, "As a Witcher fan I'm over the moon about the opportunity to play Geralt of Rivia." Hemsworth previously had roles in The Hunger Games series and Independence Day: Resurgence.
The Witcher show was in headlines earlier this week with the revelation that some of the writers on the show 'actively disliked' the books and games.
