The Witcher is back this month with Liam Hemsworth stepping into the role of Geralt of Rivia for Season 4, debuting October 30 on Netflix. Showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich revealed that Hemsworth brings his own flavor to the character — a slightly different tone, more humor, and yes, more cursing — while producer Tomasz Bagiński teased a Geralt who shows a bit more emotion as he rediscovers his humanity. Fans will also notice a brand-new scar on Geralt’s face, explained within the story. Although Henry Cavill’s portrayal remains iconic, the team promises Hemsworth will quickly make the role his own.

Not everyone gets to step into the world of their favorite video game as their day job, but Liam Hemsworth did.

The actor went from battling monsters on his console to swinging swords at them on the set of The Witcher, stepping into Geralt of Rivia’s boots for Season 4. “I’m a bit of a secret gamer,” Hemsworth tells Tudum. “I was such a big fan of this character, so it was a bit of those pinch-yourself moments of walking around in this costume that a few years ago I was playing a video game of.”

As exciting as it was to live out a fan’s dream, Hemsworth admits the leap didn’t come without nerves — taking over mid-series brought a pressure no controller could prepare him for. “Initially, I was pretty hesitant and unsure,” the actor reveals. “It’s an odd thing to be asked to come in midway through a series like this and continue on as the lead character. But, as a fan of the video game, I felt like I could do something cool with it.”

While Hemsworth debated whether he could don Geralt’s armor, showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich never questioned his casting. “The very first time that I met with Liam Hemsworth, in my gut, I knew that he would make a perfect Geralt for us in Season 4, because he was able to be very honest with me about the things that really resonated with him in earlier seasons, and also some things he’d like to shift,” Hissrich tells Tudum.

Hissrich’s instincts told her he was the right player to carry Geralt’s sword, but Hemsworth still had to prove it. His real journey began before the cameras rolled, facing his own prequel quest: endless hours of training, fittings to perfect every detail of his iteration of Geralt, and finding his place in an ensemble who already knew their way around the Continent.

The making of a Witcher

Hemsworth’s journey began with a phone call in late 2022, while he was home in Australia. “My agent called me and said they were interested in me stepping into the world of Geralt, and continuing on with this series,” the actor recalls. At first, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to take on the role, but an early conversation with Hissrich helped ease his doubts. “I felt like I was going to have the support and the confidence that I needed to really pull it off,” Hemsworth says.

Once committed, Hemsworth relocated to London to immerse himself in training months before filming began. “Physical training pretty much started when I accepted the role,” he recalls. “I got to London about three months before we started shooting, and then the sword fighting began, which I’d never done before, but I was told I picked it up pretty quickly.”

PHOTO BY RACHELL SMITH

When the 2023 Writers Guild strike forced production to pause, it presented an unavoidable disruption, but also allowed more time for Hemsworth to prepare. Hissrich recalls, “I wasn’t sure what to expect the next time I saw him, a good five months later. He was enormous — the most fit man I’ve ever seen. He has put forth this effort to physically transition himself into Geralt.”

Producer Tomasz Bagiński echoes Hissrich, emphasizing Liam’s focused work ethic. “The role of Geralt is even more demanding because it’s a very specific type of physicality. I call it ‘warrior dancer,’ where he has to be very fluid in his motions, and he has to be very fast, and he also has to be very good with a sword. Liam started very early, and he was very focused on getting this bit right.”

Hemsworth’s diligent preparation paid off. By the time he stepped in front of the camera for full fight sequences, he had already built a strong foundation for a convincing Geralt. “We weren’t sure what to expect coming into this with Liam, but we were pleasantly surprised,” stunt coordinator Marcus Shakesheff tells Tudum. “The action comes very easy to him. He works hard. And he picks things up quickly as well.” From day one to now, Shakesheff adds, Hemsworth has “smashed it.”

Redefining Geralt

Sure, bulging biceps fill out armor well, but muscles alone don’t make the White Wolf — it’s Geralt’s intellect that keeps him dynamic and interesting. “Geralt is not only a monster hunter, so he doesn’t have to be just very physically fit, but he’s also a philosopher,” Bagiński explains. “We were very lucky with Liam because it fits him.”

That blend of brawn and brains became the foundation for every change that shaped Hemsworth’s new White Wolf — with Hemsworth adding his own imprint along the way. “His voice, his tone is slightly different, and he does have a little bit more humor,” Hissrich says. “Liam loves to curse, and we’ve brought cursing back.”

It all translates to a Geralt who feels sharp, funny, and more vulnerable — setting the stage for what’s to come in Season 4. “It’s interesting to see this change explored from a slightly different angle, because our Geralt smiles a bit more — maybe he feels a little more emotional, maybe he’s a little more emotional than before,” Bagiński says. “But it’s also where the story goes, because he discovers himself as a human again after all those years of hunting monsters.”

PHOTO BY RACHELL SMITH

PHOTO BY RACHELL SMITH

But nothing marks Geralt’s new era quite like the scar carved across his face — a detail meant to show both wear and survival. “One of the things that we realized is that Geralt didn’t carry a lot of the scars that the character is known by,” Hissrich explains. “So we made a definitive decision at the beginning of the season to start Liam with a scar across his face, and we even have an explanation of why it suddenly appears between two seasons.”

While the scar connects Liam’s Geralt to the character’s history, his updated wardrobe gives him new room to roam. Hemsworth worked closely with costume designer Lucinda Wright to create a more weathered look for Geralt, while still grounding the character in familiarity. “It just came from putting stuff on him and seeing what he liked … I just wanted to hear from Liam what he wanted to bring to the role,” Wright tells Tudum. “I got rid of any buckles or any straps. The Geralt belt was always around the waist. I dropped it down like a holster … like a Western.”

Wright’s adjustments set the foundation, and Hemsworth layered his own vision on top. “His first suggestion was that he wanted something more similar to a motorcycle jacket,” Hissrich recalls. “And Lucinda Wright, who’s the costume designer, we were both like, ‘OK, motorcycle jacket … How do we bring that into this medieval Witcher world?’ Liam has been good at choosing and being very opinionated about — which I love — the things that he knows that will suit him and will make him into Geralt.”

Of all the changes that came with passing the medallion to Hemsworth, none is more symbolic than the White Wolf’s signature white hair. Achieving the look required hours of fittings and adjustments before Hemsworth found his Geralt hair. “We did a lot of different fits leading up to the shoot and different styles to figure out where it sat best on my head, and I feel like we wound up in a nice place,” Hemsworth says. “It’s an interesting thing to have to put on a white wig every day. Definitely haven’t done that before.”

Every new piece added another layer to the character, until Hemsworth felt himself disappear into Geralt. “Any day I put on the actual body armor, and I’m in proper Witcher mode, I feel like it forces you to walk a little differently and hold your head a little higher,” Hemsworth says. “When I come to set, and I’ve got my costume on …that’s when I really feel immersed in this character and I feel like I’m in the body of another character.”

Bagiński calls that exact moment the essence of becoming Geralt. “Geralt is a very interesting character because he influences every actor who tries to portray him,” the producer explains. “Something happens when they become Geralt. They put the wig on, and they put those yellow eyes on … and this hunter-philosopher comes to the surface. It was very visible with Liam.”

PHOTO BY RACHELL SMITH

Strangers to family

Joining a show in its fourth season can be intimidating. Hemsworth likens it to “starting high school halfway through and everyone’s already friends.” Fortunately, his Witcher co-stars weren’t the type to shove him in a locker. “From the cast to the crew, everyone was so welcoming,” Hemsworth says. “They put a lot of my fears and nerves at ease by being welcoming and also excited to have me there and continue on this journey.”

Before filming began, Hissrich wanted to ensure Hemsworth felt like part of the family. And the quickest way to turn strangers into family? Food. “We did lots of social events, we had dinners. We got them together as people first, which I thought was so important,” Hissrich says. “We worked hard to find ways to allow the actors to get to know each other before the characters had to establish these long-running relationships.”

Food may have been the first step, but Hemsworth’s house became the next stage in turning colleagues into family. “At the very beginning of the shoot, we had a little gathering — me and the other castmates at his house — and we got to really speak for the first time,” recalls Freya Allan, who’s grown up on the series playing Ciri. “He was very passionate … I’m excited to see what it is he has done.”

But like all great tales on the Continent, true camaraderie happens over a few beers. Joey Batey, who’s played Geralt’s bard Jaskier since Season 1, remembers when his bond with Hemsworth truly clicked. “We were shooting down in Cornwall doing a lot of location shooting … and one evening we got together and, I won’t lie to you, got incredibly drunk,” Batey tells Tudum. “We both woke up the next day — thankfully it was a day off — and saw each other, had a bit of breakfast, and there was a real understanding, a real burgeoning friendship there as well. You can’t force it — it’s just something that comes naturally over time.”

PHOTO BY SUSIE ALLNUTT

All that behind-the-scenes bonding paid off once filming began. Batey says Hemsworth wasted no time jumping into the trenches with the rest of the cast. “Liam arrived with such immediate dedication and such alacrity of mind,” he recalls. “He was very interested and curious about the character, willing and able to question some aspects of the script, stand up for his interpretation of the role, and be incredibly collaborative with everyone on set. My job was to just welcome him … and he has been incredibly professional, respectful, but also the first to laugh.”

Batey wasn’t the only one impressed by Hemsworth’s approach. Anya Chalotra (Yennefer) says he blended in seamlessly, bringing a calm energy to the role. From her perspective, it felt like he’d always been part of the ensemble. “It’s such a huge undertaking, and I’m sure there must have been nerves, but we didn’t see it,” Chalotra tells Tudum. “He has just been such a lovely energy on set and brought something really beautiful to Geralt.”

What Chalotra admired in front of the lens, the crew recognized behind it. Production designer Andrew Laws says Hemsworth arrived on set with genuine curiosity, eager to see how every part of the world came together. “Liam came in right off the bat with a level of enthusiasm and excitement and energy that was just invigorating. We have fresh storylines this season, and it was really nice to be working with somebody that was so incredibly collaborative,” Laws tells Tudum. “Immediately, when he got here, he wanted to be taken around; he wanted to see the world that we were creating both for him and for everybody else. He really wanted to immerse himself into the world that we have.”

Hissrich says Hemsworth’s humility was the final piece, and the reason why his transition into Geralt looks effortless. “It would be very easy for someone to come in and say, ‘The show is The Witcher, Geralt is the leader and star of the show,’ and Liam could not be more opposite than that. It is his goal to fit into this family.”

Much like the story of The Witcher, becoming Geralt wasn’t just about fighting monsters and mastering swordplay — it was about finding a family. “A lot of us get together in our cast,” Batey says. “These days, we’ll happily go for a drink together or have a couple of bites together, just because we want to — not because we feel we have to.”

A future forged

Finding a new Geralt might have been the series’ most challenging side quest to date, but Hissrich is confident that Liam — and the entire Witcher team — nailed it. “People think of Geralt, and now they have specific images in their mind,” says Hissrich. “Within about 45 seconds, I don’t think you really think about it much more. Liam owns this character.”

Now the focus turns to what’s next. With Season 4 behind him, Hemsworth is looking forward to continuing — and finishing — Geralt’s story in Season 5. “As a fan myself of this character and of this world, I feel like everyone has put in so much hard work and done a really good job at doing the best that we can do,” Hemsworth says. “I’m just excited to continue on this journey.” From player to protagonist, Hemsworth’s White Wolf has arrived.

The Witcher Season 4 arrives on Netflix Oct. 30.

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Watch the Trailer for The Witcher Season 4