Season four of The Witcher begins exactly as fans might expect — with drama, bloodshed, and a brooding Geralt (Henry Cavill… or rather, Liam Hemsworth) slashing his sword through monstrous foes. Despite the Hemsworth-shaped elephant in the room, much remains unchanged throughout the season. The same grandiose fight scenes return, magical battles unfold with flair, and Jaskier (Joey Batey) once again levels up his ballad game.
However, no matter how hard the Netflix series tries to pretend it’s business as usual, that elephant isn’t going anywhere. The much-talked-about casting shift from Henry Cavill to Liam Hemsworth in the leading role simply cannot be ignored. There was no way Cavill’s Geralt could reappear in season four as a new man — bearing the same old injuries — without the show addressing it. The fandom wouldn’t stand for that.
So how does The Witcher’s fourth season handle this major recasting? Well, allow us to tell you.
How The Witcher Explains Liam Hemsworth’s “New” Geralt
While the silver wig remains firmly in place, it’s immediately obvious that the man beneath it isn’t the same. Still, anyone expecting a straightforward explanation for Geralt’s new face will be disappointed.
For better or worse, The Witcher takes a subtler route — one that begins with a story. The season opens on a voiceover from storyteller Stribog (Clive Russell) as he entertains a group of children with tales of “The Butcher of Blaviken.” On screen, a familiar scene unfolds: Geralt battles a kikimora, echoing Henry Cavill’s first appearance in the series.
Only now, it’s Hemsworth’s Geralt wielding the sword, leaping onto the beast’s back, and plunging his blade through its head. More monster fighting follows, until Stribog’s tale is interrupted by a young girl who corrects him: “You’re telling it wrong.”
This is the first clue that The Witcher is embracing the “unreliable narrator” approach — a fan theory that circulated long before season four premiered. The second hint comes when Stribog responds: “Oh Nimue, not again, it was a hundred years ago, there’s no such thing as right and wrong…”
From this, we can infer that the show wants the audience to understand that this unreliability extends to Geralt himself — including how he looks. That’s about as close as the series gets to explaining the White Wolf’s change in appearance.
Unless, of course, you count the knowing nods to “how much he’s changed,” like when Jaskier remarks in episode one: “He just hasn’t been the same since his injuries. Since he lost the ones he loved.”
Yeah — and got two inches taller. Expect more of those winking moments throughout the season.
The “Unreliable Narrator” Theory, Explained
The “unreliable narrator” theory is deeply rooted in The Witcher book series. Andrzej Sapkowski’s stories are often told from shifting perspectives, with each narrator coloring events in their own way. Details and descriptions change depending on who’s recounting the tale.
The Netflix adaptation takes that idea even further. It suggests that not only do perspectives differ, but that the storyteller’s influence can alter the story itself — including what Geralt of Rivia might look like to the world.
By showing Stribog as the voice behind these tales, the series implies that much of what we’ve seen across three seasons has been told secondhand. And now, someone new has taken up the storytelling mantle — offering a fresh version of the legend, and perhaps, a new face for the White Wolf.
