The Witcher Eyed Replacing Henry Cavill as Early as 2020 — Liam Hemsworth’s Story Ignites Fan Outrage

We finally got the first look at Liam Hemsworth swinging steel as Geralt in The Witcher trailer, and somehow the show is immediately back in drama mode. This time, the spark is a Tudum piece about Hemsworth joining the series that fans say quietly changed a key detail after people called it out. Inside baseball alert: this is Netflix’s own house blog stepping on a rake during rollout. Fun.

The Tudum kerfuffle, explained

A fan on X posted alleged screenshots from the Tudum article claiming Hemsworth was approached about taking over as Geralt in 2020. That’s awkward because Henry Cavill was still filming Season 2 around then. The fan framed it as embarrassing for Cavill (which is a weird angle to take, but that’s the internet), and also flagged how the article contrasted Cavill and Hemsworth in a way that felt like a dig at Cavill’s take.

Here’s the messy part: the Tudum article currently does not include that 2020 detail. So either it was edited after the fact or it was never there in the first place. We can’t verify which. Either way, the perception that Netflix tried to slide past an uncomfortable timeline only poured gas on a fanbase that was already in a mood.

What the creatives are promising with Liam’s Geralt

Showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich says she knew Hemsworth would be their Geralt for Season 4 and that his version is not a carbon copy. Expect a slightly different voice and tone, a touch more humor, and yes, more cursing. Producer Tomasz Baginski added that this Geralt smiles a bit more and might be a little more openly emotional. Cavill loyalists did not love the implication that Geralt 1.0 was too stoic or too clean-mouthed; they read it as shading his performance rather than simply describing a new flavor.

Liam on the backlash and why he said yes

Hemsworth says the call came through his agent while he was home in Australia. He was hesitant at first but felt assured after talking it through with Hissrich. He also took what he calls extreme measures to block out the noise: he basically quit the internet for most of last year.

There was quite a bit of noise and I had to put that aside. It started to become a distraction... I just don’t want any of that to affect my way of telling the story that I’m trying to tell. I jumped off social media and the internet most of last year.

Also notable: when he was first approached, Hemsworth hadn’t watched Cavill’s run or read the books. What he had done was play the CD Projekt Red games, which he calls one of the best video games of all time. That was the hook that pulled him into Geralt’s boots.

On the physical side, the team says he pushed through a big transformation and picked up the sword work fast. No surprise there — the guy has action chops — but the comparison pressure is real.

Freya Allan wants fans to give him space

Freya Allan, who plays Ciri, says Hemsworth is putting in the work and asks fans to give him a fair shake. She’s sympathetic to how hostile the takeover vibes have been and says she’s excited to see what he brings. Translation: everyone on set knows the temperature and is trying to lower it a few degrees.

So, why did Cavill actually leave?

Netflix announced Cavill’s exit back in October 2022, and the silence around the why lasted almost three years. Hissrich finally addressed it in an Entertainment Weekly interview, saying Cavill had other roles he wanted to prioritize.

He had plans for other roles that he really wanted to commit himself to.

Fans aren’t exactly persuaded. The long-running (unverified) theory is that Cavill left over the show’s departures from Andrzej Sapkowski’s lore — he’s famously detail-oriented about the source material — and that this created creative friction. Whether that’s true or not, a lot of viewers lined up behind him, which is part of why Hemsworth is getting caught in the crossfire now.

Basics, credits, and when you can watch

The Witcher is based on the books by Andrzej Sapkowski and streams on Netflix. Lauren Schmidt Hissrich is the showrunner. Executive producers include Simon Emanuel, Alik Sakharov, Tomek Baginski, Jaroslaw Sawko, Piotr Sikora, Jason F. Brown, Sean Daniel, Steve Gaub, Matt O'Toole, Mike Ostrowski, and Karol Zbikowski.

There are 3 seasons out now, totaling 21 episodes. Season 4 — Hemsworth’s debut — drops October 30, 2025. The first three seasons are already on Netflix if you want to rewatch Cavill’s run or prep for the handoff.