The Witcher Season 4 Plummets to Franchise-Worst Viewership
The Witcher Season 4 limps onto Netflix with the franchise’s worst first-week viewership, down 52% from last season despite buzz around Liam Hemsworth’s debut—while also posting the weakest critic and audience scores yet.
The Witcher is back on Netflix, but the audience... kind of isn't. Season 4 just logged the weakest debut in the show's run, even with the big spotlight on Liam Hemsworth stepping in as Geralt. If you were expecting a curiosity bump for the recast, the early numbers say otherwise.
The numbers (and they aren't pretty)
- Opening week views for Season 4: 7.4 million
- That's down 52% from Season 3's 15.2 million
- Season 2 opened at 18.5 million views
- Netflix hasn't provided comparable data for Season 1
- Samba TV says the Season 4 premiere drew 577k U.S. households, 35% fewer than Season 3's 885k
- On Netflix's global chart for the week of Oct 27–Nov 2, Season 4 placed below 'Nobody Wants This' Season 2
So what's going on?
The big change this year is the lead: Liam Hemsworth now plays Geralt of Rivia, taking over from Henry Cavill. There was a lot of attention on that handoff, but it didn't translate into a stronger start. Instead, Season 4 opened to the smallest audience the series has seen.
Reviews aren't helping
Season 4 is also the lowest-rated Witcher season to date. As of now, it's sitting at a 56% critic score and a 19% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. That's a rough combo for word of mouth.
What it means for the future
Netflix has already shot Season 5, and that will wrap the main series. No release date yet. But if you're wondering about the larger Witcher universe, this Season 4 response probably doesn't make new spin-offs any easier to greenlight. We'll see if Season 5 can steady the ship when it finally lands.