Liam Hemsworth was not among the favorites when it was announced that he will be the Geralt of Rivia post-Season 3 of The Witcher. The character that has attained higher levels of popularity after being portrayed by Henry Cavill faced a shocking change midway. To everyone’s surprise, it was announced that the ex-Superman fame won’t return after the third season of the Netflix series.
The Witcher was subjected to massive controversy when it was announced that Henry Cavill would not play the role for long. The fans presented intense backlash to the recasting and made their attempts to boycott it in every way possible. But as per recent reports, Liam Hemsworth looks totally unfazed by the controversies and is on his way to proving the haters wrong.
Liam Hemsworth is preparing hard for The Witcher
Henry Cavill had a huge role in popularizing the Netflix series inspired by the works of Andrzej Sapkowski. When the British fame’s future as Superman was in a doubtful state, he gave his best to turn The Witcher into a major pop culture phenomenon. But in a surprising turn of events, the star left the show and it is being said that the makers’ lack of respect towards the source material is the core reason for it.
It can’t be said that Liam Hemsworth’s addition excited the audiences too much after the show faced repeated backlashes for their creative decisions. Petitions were filed and teaser videos were showered with dislikes as a result of the internet wrath. But looks like the actor is set on the path to proving everyone wrong as he is reportedly training hard to step into the shoes of Geralt of Rivia.
Speaking with Games Radar+, the Jaskier actor Joey Batey confirmed that he has been in contact with Liam Hemsworth, and The Hunger Games star is not only following an intense training regime but also trying to learn the source materials by heart.
“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.”
Although the spark of Henry Cavill can’t be recreated on screen, it will be hoped that Liam Hemsworth can do justice to the character. Cavill’s obsession with the source materials and The Witcher games was also a reason why he looked perfect for it. While it will be interesting to look at how the events unfold for the Australian actor when he enters the show, the makers have also announced that they have planned for a seamless transition for the character after Season 3.
Will it be a smooth change from Henry Cavill to Liam Hemsworth?
Besides being controversial, it also sounds quite weird for the lead character to change his face midway. As the fans were concerned if this would add a layer of absurdity to the storyline, executive producers of the show claimed that they have already planned something for introducing Liam Hemsworth as the new face of the show.
According to producer Tomek Baginski, there will be a flawless transition and the explanation of it will also be closer to the Andrzej Sapkowski books.
“We have a very, very good plan to introduce our new Geralt and our new vision for Geralt with Liam. 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. It’s very lore accurate. It’s very close to what was set out in the books and I think this change will be quite flawless.”
Baginski also praised Cavill in an interview with Yahoo News. He admitted that it was important for them to give the Man of Steel actor a worthy farewell and he thinks that the actor left The Witcher with his head held high.
The first 5 episodes of The Witcher Season 3 will drop on June 29, 2023, with the remaining episodes slated for July 27, 2023.
Source: Games Radar+
