The Witcher season 4 isn't filming yet, but we've got new casting news to go alongside the announcement that Liam Hemsworth is replacing Henry Cavill as Geralt: Laurence Fishburne has been cast as fan-favorite character Regis.
On top of that, there's also talk of new directors joining The Witcher season 4, several rumored spin-offs, and plenty more besides. But before we get ahead of ourselves, we've also broken down a complete guide to The Witcher season 4 cast, theories, predicted release date, and a lot of exclusive insight to tide you over until the White Wolf returns.
The Witcher season 4 release date speculation
While Netflix has confirmed that The Witcher season 4 is on its way, we don't yet know exactly when it will be hitting our screens.
There have been a fair few delays along the way, including some SAG-AFTRA strike-related pushbacks. However, a recent report from Redanian Intelligence suggests that season 4 will be starting filming imminently. Per the site, pre-production begins in January 2024 with cameras rolling soon after.
If filming begins in 2024, it's not likely then that we'll be able to see the finished season until 2025 at the earliest. It'll be a long wait it seems, Witcher fans.
News of For All Mankind's Sergio Mimica-Gezzan coming in to handle multiple episodes of The Witcher season 4 as director, though, makes us think filming is imminent.
Freya Allan confirmed as much in an interview with GamesRadar+, saying the Netflix show is "gearing up" to film. Watch this space.
In more good news, it seems production is about ready to kick off when those involved are ready. Dijkstra actor Graham McTavish told GamesRadar+ that scripts have mostly been written, but they just haven't seen them yet.
"[I've seen] vague stuff. They don't really like to tell us too much. I never know quite why they don't like to tell you too much but I like the surprise, actually. I look forward to pacing the corridors again in season four, maybe with a different candle, you know, a slightly different coat. I’m looking at possibly a costume change?"
The Witcher season 4 cast
The Witcher season 4 cast will see the return of most of the major characters, including Ciri (Freya Allan), Yennefer (Anya Chalotra), and Jaskier (Joey Batey).
We also expect to see more of Fringilla (Mimi Ndiweni), Cahir (Eamon Farren), Francesca (Mecia Simson), Triss (Anna Shaffer), Dara (Wilson Mbomio), Istredd (Royce Pierreson), Sabrina Glevissig (Therica Wilson-Read), Vilgefortz (Mahesh Jadu), Stregobor (Lars Mikkelsen), Dijkstra (Graham McTavish), and Phillipa (Cassie Clare).
Elsewhere, newcomers to season 3 are also expected back, including Nilfgaardian Emperor Emhyr (Bart Edwards), Radovid (Hugh Skinner), and Milva (Meng'er Zhang).
Then there are The Rats, who were introduced in the season 3 finale. These are: Giselher (Ben Radcliffe), Mistle (Christelle Elwin), Kayleigh (Fabian McCallum), Iskra ( Aggy K. Adams), Reef (Juliette Alexandra), and Asse (Connor Crawford).
A new addition, Regis, has also been confirmed for The Witcher season 4. The barber-surgeon will be played by John Wick and The Matrix star Laurence Fishburne.
There were some big casualties in season 3, which has narrowed down who exactly we'll see back. These include Tissaia (MyAnna Buring), Lydia (Aisha Fabienne Ross), Filavandrel (Tom Canton), Artorius (Terence Maynard), Gallatin (Robbie Amell), and Rience (Sam Woolf).
Although, the main change of casting will be Geralt, who's being replaced in season 4. Speaking of...
How will Geralt be recast as Liam Hemsworth?
The long and short of it is so far, we don't know. All that we know for certain is that Cavill's final appearance as Geralt of Rivia has now aired and the next time we see the character he'll be played by The Hunger Games actor Liam Hemsworth.
There's been some speculation about how this might happen, with one of the show's producers implying a potential multiverse. Speaking to RadioTimes.com, executive producer Tomek Bagiński said: "This is a very little thing that I will tease – people who know the books really deeply also know that this is not a typical fantasy book. It's not just one world. It's not just one story happening in those books, in those stories."
Although, this is in direct contradiction to what another producer previously told us about how the show approaches multiverses. "There are no different versions," Declan de Barra told GamesRadar+ back in late 2022. "They may have changed in terms of their character arc and how long they've lived and what they're doing on these other worlds, but it's the same person. It’s not like there are two versions of Jaskier. It’s straight up that there’s one version of Yennefer, one version of everybody." So we'll just have to wait and see on that one...
Bagiński has also shared with other outlets that he's seen Hemsworth in the full Geralt getup too, and he looks "awesome". This means the actor has been preparing to play the role with make-up tests and so forth, but he has still yet to meet most of the cast in person, apparently.
Speaking to GamesRadar+, the actors shared they've sent a few emails back and forth, but not much else. In June 2023, Jaskier star Joey Batey said: "I've been in contact with him. We've been emailing, we’ve been exchanging our favorite quotes from the books and things like that. I don’t think any of us are in the position to advise on playing Geralt but he’s throwing himself into it. His training regime is insane and he’s been devouring the books." Batey isn’t the only one either, as Yennefer star Anya Chalotra says they've spoken "through email".
The Witcher season 4 plot
We now have a synopsis for The Witcher season 4, and it sounds very intriguing. Per Neftlix, this reads: "After the shocking, Continent-altering events that close out season three, the new season follows Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri who are faced with traversing the war-ravaged Continent and its many demons apart from each other. If they can embrace and lead the groups of misfits they find themselves in, they have a chance of surviving the baptism of fire – and finding one another again."
While we don't have any more specific plot details other than that, that doesn't mean we don't have an idea about what's coming up next in the fantasy world.
Thanks to season 3 finale, we know there are plenty of plot details that need to be tied up. First of all, there's The Rats storyline as Ciri has now joined the group of young criminals. We know there's been rumblings of a spin-off show featuring them, but we expect this also to feature in the fourth season.
Just going by the trajectory of the books, The Witcher season 4 will likely deal with the bulk of Baptism of Fire, the third of Andrzej Sapkowski's novels. We won't go into major plot spoilers here, but it revolves around Geralt becoming involved in a new conflict between two warring parties, while Ciri finds her place among The Rats.
Speaking about her character's future to SFX, actor Allan said of why they brought in more stunts for her. "If we are not seeing her do anything yet, and then in season four she is going and joining a gang of killing Rats, it’s not really going to add up," she said. "I wanted it to feel like she started to use that training and put that into real life, although she’s not killing anyone yet, or shouldn’t be." Now she's going by the name Falka too, expect to see a different kind of iteration of her going forward...
Geralt and Yennefer's task is a bit more straightforward, they're going to be trying to find Ciri and protect her from harm. Although Yen will undoubtedly also be busy trying to rebuild the damage done in the wake of the Aretuza bloodbath, and the loss of her mentor Tissaia.
Meanwhile in Redania, Prince Radovid has now become King Radovid (which is probably not good news for Jaskier). Then there's Vilgefortz and Emhyr who think they've managed to bring Ciri home once and for all, but well she looks a little different... We can't wait to see how all of this plays out.
For more on the show, check out our guides to the best Netflix shows and the best Netflix movies.
