Will ‘The Witcher’ Season 4 Pick Up the Pace? Don’t Count on It.

How do you change a witcher’s face? That’s the big question the end of Season 3 of The Witcher left us. With Henry Cavill stepping away from the Netflix fantasy, how Liam Hemsworth, Cavill’s replacement, will be integrated into the role of Geralt of Rivia is perplexing fans. But with Geralt, Yennefer (Anya Chalotra), and Ciri (Freya Allan) separated once again, the Continent at war, and The Wild Hunt looming, there’s so much more to ponder besides how Hemsworth looks in a white wig.

With Season 3 drawing from author Andrzej Sapkowski’s second The Witcher novel, Time of Contempt, it’s likely that Season 4 will draw much from the next book in the series, Baptism of Fire.

How closely Season 4 keeps to the source material, however, is uncertain, given the show already has a reputation for disregarding The Witcher books, to fans’ frustration. These are criticisms that executive producer Tomek Baginski doesn’t take too kindly. In recent comments to Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, he suggested that while there are many reasons for simplifying the plot of the books for screen, the principal reason is so that Americans and young people who have grown up on TikTok can digest it. He went on to criticize viewers, saying (per Redanian Intelligence’s translation), “Dear children, what you do to yourself makes you less resilient for longer content, for long and complicated chains of cause and effect.”

The book does, however, pick up pretty much where we left things at the end of Season 3: War is renewed between Nilfgaard and the kingdoms of the North, with Geralt once again looking for Ciri, who he believes to be in Nilfgaard but is actually wandering Korath under the assumed name, Falka.

If you’re already lost, we don’t blame you. But don’t worry; if you want to get back on track with where the story is going, you’re in the right place. We’re going to untangle the web of political wrangling, changing cast members, and a multiverse—because everything is a multiverse now—to drill down into what awaits us in Season 4 of The Witcher.

What’s this about a multiverse?

Let’s get the big one out of the way first. The Witcher producer, Tomek Baginski, has teased that a multiverse is how the show will explain the recasting of Geralt. Speaking to Radio Times about Hemsworth replacing Cavill in July, he said, “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.”

While Baginski doesn’t mention a multiverse explicitly, it’s hard to interpret that as anything else. This has fans understandably upset as, while The Witcher’s universe is built upon multiple worlds, it’s not designed to be a multiverse as modern media portrays the storytelling concept.

Rather, the world is made up of “spheres,” where different races and species live independently. The Continent, on which The Witcher takes place, was once home to dwarfs, gnomes, and elves—though it’s implied that elves arrived from another sphere. That is, until the Conjunction of the Spheres brought multiple worlds crashing together on one plane—spilling humans, monsters, and magic onto the Continent. This, in turn, led to the creation of the witchers.

That’s it. This isn’t the MCU; there aren’t multiple Geralts stomping around in different universes. It remains to be seen how this particular “multiverse” will result in a new Geralt, but based on current evidence, sending the story in this direction appears to be an explicit misreading of the books.

So, Geralt doesn’t change in the books?

Actually—he does. It may come as a surprise to fans, especially those of the games, where this is omitted, that Geralt is disabled. After Vilgefortz (Mahesh Jadu) shattered his knee and elbow, and despite the healing waters of Brokilon Forest, Geralt spends much of the proceeding books with varying forms of chronic pain.

Hissrich acknowledged this in 2020, in a reply to a Twitter thread on the subject. She suggested that her view of Geralt was once that “Geralt has some pain, onto the next thing.” In the same reply, she goes on to say, “I’ve been wrong. I’m excited to dig into this more. To add this layer to our hero.”

It’s unlikely we’ll see this side of Geralt in Netflix’s The Witcher, however. Geralt was moving remarkably well at the end of Season 3, especially when decimating a company of Nilfgaardian soldiers at the end of Season 3. Instead, the only change we’ll likely see is Geralt turning into Liam Hemsworth.

Where does Yennefer go after healing Geralt?

While Geralt spent months recovering from his injuries in the books, the show accelerates the process by teleporting Yennefer in to heal him. It’s an understandable change to get things moving, but it’s also an opportunity to keep Yennefer, who barely features in Baptism of Fire, in the frame. With Season 3 placing her in a leadership role among the remnants of The Brotherhood, it’s likely we’ll see Yennefer form The Lodge of Sorceresses in Season 4.

In the books, The Lodge is founded by Philipa Eilhart (Cassie Clare), who spent much of Season 3 plotting the Thanedd Coup over expositional BDSM with Sigismund Dijkstra (Graham McTavish). With Philipa busy with the new Redanian king, Radovid (Hugh Skinner), it might make more sense to give the meat of her role to Yennefer—if only to keep Yennefer in the picture.

What about Ciri?

Season 3 was touted as both Ciri’s and actress Freya Allan’s ascendency into the lead of The Witcher. That didn’t happen, and with Ciri spending much of Baptism of Fire in Korath with her new friends, it’s probably not going to happen in Season 4 either. Instead, the book focuses on Geralt’s search for her, alongside his growing group of Ciri-seeking chums: Dandelion, a.k.a. Jaskier (Joey Batey), Milva (Meng’er Zhang), Cahir (Eamon Farren), who’s fresh from being spared by Ciri, and teetotal vampire doctor Regis. With Netflix already putting out casting calls for Zoltan Chivay and Regis, it’s all but confirmed that Baptism of Fire is the inspiration for this season, which means we’re in for more Ciri in the desert.

This is not good news for those who enjoyed the interplay between Geralt and Ciri. That said, it’s going to be hard to keep Ciri’s storyline interesting—especially with how ponderous the penultimate episode of Season 3 was—so we may well see aspects of the next book, The Tower of the Swallow, bleed in. There, Ciri makes her way back to Cintra while on the run from bounty hunter Leo Bonhart. Expect to see more of The Wild Hunt too, who appeared briefly as Ciri traveled to their sphere and who are after her power.

No, not that Ciri!

At the end of Season 3, Nilfgaardian emperor, Emhyr (Bart Edwards), presented his daughter, Ciri, to his subjects, the news of which pushes Geralt to forego his recovery and go searching for her. It’s quickly revealed that this Ciri is, in fact, Teryn (Frances Pooley). Teryn is a former Aretuzan novice who, through Vilgefortz’s experiments, now believes she’s Ciri, whom we last saw after Geralt saved her. This is true to the book. However, Emhyr’s plan for Ciri goes beyond bringing his estranged daughter home. He intends to marry her and produce a prophesied and powerful child—as does The Wild Hunt. So, it will be interesting to see how the show handles that incest-y tidbit.

All in all, the books suggest we’re in for a fragmented and not particularly productive fourth season of The Witcher, one that bears a greater resemblance to Season 1 while lifting heavily from Baptism of Fire. That may, however, be good news for Liam Hemsworth, who will at least be bouncing off existing and established characters throughout Season 4 as he gets used to the role.

Perhaps the greatest problem The Witcher faces is that not much happens in Baptism of Fire: Geralt is mostly aimless in his search, Ciri is stuck in Korath, and Yennefer is mostly absent. How the show addresses that, whether it’s bringing in elements of The Tower of the Swallow or other changes, remains to be seen. But as we head into Season 4 with Liam Hemsworth in the lead and executive producer Baginski lambasting viewers who dare critique the show, perhaps pacing isn’t the biggest issue facing The Witcher going forward.