Liam Hemsworth Could've Become The Witcher Back in 2018
What a season of revelations!
Last week Henry Cavill who's departing from Netflix 's The Witcher series said he could have played James Bond in Casino Royale hadn't he been that young back in 2006. And here's a new sensation. Liam Hemsworth, the one taking over from Cavill for Season 4 was allegedly among the frontrunners to play Geralt of Rivia in 2018.
According to the Redaninan Intelligence, which writes about all things The Witcher, Liam Hemsworth was among the best ones when the role was initially being cast. The report says that it is not clear whether "he was second behind Cavill or in the Top-3 or Top-5, but he was definitely among the favorites." So, Hemsworth taking over from Cavill looks logical because there's no need for the showrunners to start casting full mode on. The auditions had already taken place. All they need to do is to go back to the old tapes and choose.
Still, the announcement that Henry Cavill will no longer play Geralt came as a shock for The Witcher series' fans. It gave birth to all sorts of conspiracy theories and speculations as to what could have caused Cavill's departure.
Most of the fans and industry pros suggested that the actor left over his differences with the production team because the writers allegedly failed to honor Andrzej Sapkowki's books – i.e. the source material. And Henry Cavill is known as the one who have always pushed for Geralt of Rivia to be a more book-accurate character.
The Witcher's fans have even launched a petition on Change.org asking Netflix to give the show writers the boot and keep Cavill. At the time of the writing the appeal was supported by almost 130,000 people. No wonder – Cavill is considered to be the perfect Geralt and everybody agree on that including the author of the books.
The news about Liam Hemsworth taking over from Henry Cavil caused an avalanche of negative comments aimed at the Josh Taylor actor – and that's despite Hemsworth confessing he has always been The Witcher's fan in general and Cavill's fan in particular. Some accused him of knowing nothing about the books and the series while others said the confession posted in Hemsworth's Instagram page was nothing short of self-PR.
It looks like The Witcher scandal is in full swing now and there's no end in sight as every day brings us more news about the Netflix show.
The Witcher Season 3 is expected to premiere summer 2023. The live-action prequel The Witcher: Blood Origin is set for a Christmas 2022 release.