The Witcher season 4: release date speculation, cast, news and more

The Witcher season 4 is deep in production, so it's only a matter of time before one of the best Netflix shows returns to our small screens. On top of new action and plotlines, Netflix has confirmed some more new cast members are joining the show, too. Seinfeld's Danny Woodburn, District 9's Sharlto Copley, and Rome's James Purefoy are all in the hit fantasy. That's not all either, as John Wick legend Laurence Fishburne has been cast as fan-favorite character Regis. 

There are plenty of new faces. However, the biggest change will be the White Wolf himself. Yes, Henry Cavill has left the series and is being replaced by Liam Hemsworth from here on out. On top of that, there's also talk of new directors joining The Witcher season 4, and several rumored spin-offs in the works. 

But before we get ahead of ourselves, we've broken down a complete guide to The Witcher season 4 cast, theories, predicted release date, and a lot of exclusive insight to tide you over until Geralt returns.

The Witcher season 4 release date speculation

While Netflix has confirmed that The Witcher season 4 is on its way, we don't yet know exactly when it will be hitting our screens. 

There have been a fair few delays to the release date, including some SAG-AFTRA strike-related pushbacks. However, thanks to a post on X from Netflix back in April 2024, we know that filming for The Witcher season 4 is now underway!

With filming taking place in 2024, it's not likely then that we'll be able to see the finished season until 2025 at the earliest. It'll be a long wait it seems, Witcher fans.

News of For All Mankind's Sergio Mimica-Gezzan coming in to handle multiple episodes of The Witcher season 4 as director, though, prepared us for this 2024 production start date. Additionally, Freya Allan confirmed that filming would likely start in 2024 during an interview with 12DOVE in March, saying the Netflix show is "gearing up" to film. So we aren't too surprised to see that cameras are rolling. 

Now that everything is moving forward, we should soon receive an announcement confirming The Witcher season 4 release date. Keep your eyes on this space!

The Witcher season 4 cast

The Witcher season 4 cast will see the return of most of the major characters, including Ciri (Freya Allan), Yennefer (Anya Chalotra), and Jaskier (Joey Batey). 

We also expect to see more of Fringilla (Mimi Ndiweni), Cahir (Eamon Farren), Francesca (Mecia Simson), Triss (Anna Shaffer), Dara (Wilson Mbomio), Istredd (Royce Pierreson), Sabrina Glevissig (Therica Wilson-Read), Vilgefortz (Mahesh Jadu), Stregobor (Lars Mikkelsen), Dijkstra (Graham McTavish), and Phillipa (Cassie Clare).

Elsewhere, newcomers to season 3 are also expected back, including Nilfgaardian Emperor Emhyr (Bart Edwards), Radovid (Hugh Skinner), and Milva (Meng'er Zhang).

Then there are The Rats, who were introduced in the season 3 finale. These are: Giselher (Ben Radcliffe), Mistle (Christelle Elwin), Kayleigh (Fabian McCallum), Iskra (Aggy K. Adams), Reef (Juliette Alexandra), and Asse (Connor Crawford).

A new addition, Regis, has also been confirmed for The Witcher season 4. The barber-surgeon will be played by John Wick and The Matrix star Laurence Fishburne.

In April 2024, Netflix confirmed some more fan-favorite characters, too. Sharlto Copley will be playing bounty hunter Leo Bonhart, James Purefoy is spy Skellan, who is part of Emhyr's court, while Danny Woodburn is playing Zoltan, a friend of Geralt's.

There were some big casualties in season 3, which has narrowed down who exactly we'll see back. These include Tissaia (MyAnna Buring), Lydia (Aisha Fabienne Ross), Filavandrel (Tom Canton), Artorius (Terence Maynard), Gallatin (Robbie Amell), and Rience (Sam Woolf).

Although, the main change of casting will be Geralt, who's being replaced in season 4. Speaking of...

Will Geralt be recast as Liam Hemsworth?

Yes. It has been confirmed that Liam Hemsworth, the star of The Hunger Games films (aka the best action movies of all time), will replace Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia. 

Hemsworth confirmed his casting through Instagram. In the social post, he wrote: "As a Witcher fan, I’m over the moon about the opportunity to play Geralt of Rivia. Henry Cavill has been an incredible Geralt, and I’m honoured that he’s handing me the reins and allowing me to take up the White Wolf’s blades for the next chapter of his adventure."

"Henry, I’ve been a fan of yours for years and was inspired by what you brought to this beloved character," Hemsworth continued. "I may have some big boots to fill, but I’m truly excited to be stepping into The Witcher world." 

There's been some speculation about how this recasting might happen in terms of the story. I mean, Cavill and Hemsworth don't look that similar, right? Well, one of the show's producers implies a potential multiverse. 

Speaking to RadioTimes.com, executive producer Tomek Bagiński said: "This is a very little thing that I will tease – 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."

However, this is in direct contradiction to what another producer previously told us about how the show approaches multiverses. "There are no different versions," Declan de Barra told 12DOVE back in late 2022. "They may have changed in terms of their character arc and how long they've lived and what they're doing on these other worlds, but it's the same person. It’s not like there are two versions of Jaskier. It’s straight up that there’s one version of Yennefer, one version of everybody." So we'll just have to wait and see on that one...

Bagiński has also shared with other outlets that he's seen Hemsworth in the full Geralt getup too, and he looks "awesome". This means the actor is all set to go, and considering the season is currently filming, we are at the point of no return. Sorry, Cavill fans. 

Speaking to 12DOVE, the actors have been in contact with their new cast mate for some time already. The stars shared they've sent a few emails back and forth but not much else. In June 2023, Jaskier star Joey Batey said: "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." Batey isn’t the only one either, as Yennefer star Anya Chalotra says they've spoken "through email".

The Witcher season 4 plot

We now have a synopsis for The Witcher season 4, and it sounds very intriguing. Per Neftlix, this reads: "After the shocking, Continent-altering events that close out season three, the new season follows Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri who are faced with traversing the war-ravaged Continent and its many demons apart from each other.  If they can embrace and lead the groups of misfits they find themselves in,  they have a chance of surviving the baptism of fire – and finding one another again."

While we don't have any more specific plot details other than that, that doesn't mean we don't have an idea about what's coming up next in the fantasy world.

Thanks to season 3 finale, we know there are plenty of plot details that need to be tied up. First of all, there's The Rats storyline as Ciri has now joined the group of young criminals. We know there's been rumblings of a spin-off show featuring them, but we expect this also to feature in the fourth season.

Just going by the trajectory of the books, The Witcher season 4 will likely deal with the bulk of Baptism of Fire, the third of Andrzej Sapkowski's novels. We won't go into major plot spoilers here, but it revolves around Geralt becoming involved in a new conflict between two warring parties, while Ciri finds her place among The Rats.

Speaking about her character's future to SFX, actor Allan said of why they brought in more stunts for her. "If we are not seeing her do anything yet, and then in season four she is going and joining a gang of killing Rats, it’s not really going to add up," she said. "I wanted it to feel like she started to use that training and put that into real life, although she’s not killing anyone yet, or shouldn’t be." Now she's going by the name Falka too, expect to see a different kind of iteration of her going forward...

Geralt and Yennefer's task is a bit more straightforward, they're going to be trying to find Ciri and protect her from harm. Although Yen will undoubtedly also be busy trying to rebuild the damage done in the wake of the Aretuza bloodbath, and the loss of her mentor Tissaia. 

Meanwhile in Redania, Prince Radovid has now become King Radovid (which is probably not good news for Jaskier). Then there's Vilgefortz and Emhyr who think they've managed to bring Ciri home once and for all, but well she looks a little different... We can't wait to see how all of this plays out.

For more on the show, check out our guides to the best Netflix movies and all the upcoming movies heading our way. Or, if you are a fan of The Witcher games, check out our list of the best games like The Witcher 3 to play right now.