There’s a sort of doom and gloom surrounding the upcoming season four ofThe Witcher. Henry Cavill’s departure over irreconcilable creative differences with the writing team has cast a dark shadow on the season, and you get the feeling that the fourth season will have to be some exceptional television for it to be well-received by fans.
Liam Hemsworth, the man replacing Cavill, has an unenviable task ahead of him, replacing the beloved Cavill. According toRedanian Intelligence, a prominent fan site, the writers have prepared an in-universe explanation for why their new Geralt looks different.
According to the report, the fourth season is going to be told from the perspective of Stribog, a wandering storyteller who is recounting the feats of Geralt and Ciri to a young girl named Nimue, who is keenly interested in the stories of the pair’s exploits.
My Geralt, Not Yours
Since the season is a recounting of events by a storyteller, you may justify Geralt looking different, as Stribog exists a hundred years after Geralt and has never actually met him. It’s probably the only way of going about this change if the writers insist on explaining it in-universe, rather than just not acknowledging the recast.
It reminds me of Dragon Age: 2, where the narrative is presented as Varric telling a story to Cassandra. Varric occasionally exaggerates events, such as when he gives Bethany Hawke larger breasts in the initial, fictional opening of the game.
The season is reportedly going to open with Stribog telling a story to a group of kids, but they keep interrupting him with erroneous details they’ve heard in the past.
They’ve reportedly re-filmed the fighting scene Geralt had with Vilgefortz in season three with Hemsworth instead of Cavill, as a way of explaining that Hemsworth is Stribog’s version of Geralt, and the Geralt he will be using going forward.
It’s honestly not a bad idea, but I’m sceptical whether it will be enough to impress fans who sorely miss Cavill.
The Witcher’s fourth season is set to release sometime this year.
