Netflix has rolled out the first trailer for The Witcher season 4, the first to replace Henry Cavill as Geralt with Liam Hemsworth after Cavill walked away in 2023 after season 3. However, the most interesting news isn’t the trailer; it’s what Netflix revealed about this whole process before deleting what they originally wrote.
A lengthy article on Netflix’s own site, Tudum, details how Hemsworth came on board. The surprising part is that Hemsworth got the call to play Geralt in The Witcher way earlier than anyone thought. From the original article:
That would mean the call was made seemingly as season 2 was still filming in 2020, and two years before Henry Cavill announced he was leaving the show. Hissrich trying to “ease his doubts” about taking on the role clearly indicates the show was already trying to recast. But the craziest thing of all is that Netflix has now deleted the date from the article. Here’s what it looks like now:
The date is gone. The rest of the article does not seem to be edited, where it includes very strong hints about what Cavill did not bring to the table as Geralt, and how he may have acted when he had the part:
In a recent interview with EW just two weeks ago, showrunner Lauren Hissrich gave a more cordial answer about Cavill leaving:
But the Tudum article suggests that the problems ran much deeper, as some insider reporting has indicated, if Hemsworth was being contacted all the way back in 2020 about taking this part. Perhaps they tried to make things work with Cavill for season 3 after a rocky season 2 process, but ultimately Hemsworth came on board. What isn’t clear is when exactly it was cemented that he would replace Cavill, but that too may be far earlier than anyone knew. There are two sides to every story, but Netflix apparently wants to erase just how early it was that Cavill was considering being replaced.
I have asked Netflix for comment and will report back if they get back to me.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2025/10/08/netflix-deletes-date-when-liam-hemsworth-was-sought-for-the-witcher/


