The Witcher's EP Debunks MCU-like Theory About Hemsworth's Geralt
It seems that changing Geralt's appearance will become a metamodern topic of discussion.
Despite the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, which have prompted many studios to cancel even their most popular projects, and despite the less-than-stellar ratings for Season 3, Netflix is determined to proceed with the upcoming seasons of The Witcher.
However, the news of Henry Cavill's departure was devastating. Recasting a major character is always risky, as the new actor may be perceived very differently due to the standards set by the previous one, and the writers must devise a good enough explanation for why the protagonist's appearance has changed so drastically. One fan theory about how Geralt now looking like Liam Hemsworth might be explained has just been debunked.
Executive producer Tomasz Bagiński has disclosed some details. A month ago, he dropped some hints about how the recasting would be incorporated into the story.
'Not going deeply into those ideas because this will be a huge spoiler, [but] it's also very, very close to the meta ideas which are deeply embedded in the books, especially in book five,' he said at the time.
Speaking of 'metanarrative themes' in the fifth book, The Lady of the Lake, many fans assumed that the producer was referring to parallel worlds called Spheres that exist in the Witcher world. While the Spheres are indeed parallel worlds, they are distinct realms in their own right, not alternate versions of the original universe created as a result of spatial and temporal changes.
'Suddenly, at the beginning of the [fifth] book, we learn that everything we've read so far might not have been true,' Bagiński explained. 'And this cannot be compared with, for example, the currently popular concept of the multiverse, where out of nowhere there are many different realities.'
Rather, he suggests, the emphasis will be on a more postmodern approach, relying on the unreliable narrator device.
'There is only one reality in Sapkowski's work, but because it is a story from the past, what we know has been filtered by various authors, historians, writers, etc. Maybe it is Jaskier's version or someone else's. Maybe Ciri had a different eye colour, was a different character, and these events looked different from the point of view of the elves.'
Like historical events that evolve into legends, the tale of Geralt and Ciri is presented centuries later at the beginning of the fifth novel, The Lady of the Lake. Condwiramurs, the sorceress, and The Lady of the Lake discussed not only the accuracy of past events but also the appearance of Ciri, whose portraits and descriptions have not been preserved. Who knows, perhaps this is what Bagiński was hinting at, and at the start of season 4, we will see them discussing Geralt instead of Ciri.
Source: Yahoo!, Redanian Intelligence.