It has been quite a while since we got any solid info about The Witcher Season 4, which is coming up for those with a Netflix subscription at some point in the future. Well, April 18 is the day that the streamer decided to deliver a couple of big updates about the fantasy drama, as it was announced that The Witcher will be ending with Season 5, which will shoot back to back with the fourth installment. But, with three more full novels in Andrzej Sapkowski’s series that need adapting, why is new star Liam Hemsworth only getting two seasons as the White Wolf?
What We Know About The Witcher Seasons 4 And 5
Word came down from Tudum today that Netflix has renewed The Witcher for Season 5, but that it will be the last that fans will see of Geralt, Ciri, Yennefer, Jaskier, and their many allies and enemies on The Continent. Not only that, but Season 4 of the action-packed series is now in production, and news on the show is set to keep rolling for a while, as the final season will film right after.
The book series on which it's based features three remaining novels that have yet to be adapted for the creature-heavy streaming series, so why might Netflix be pulling the plug after the fifth season?
Why Will Liam Hemsworth Only Get Two Seasons Of The Witcher?
Let’s start with the simplest of reasons, shall we? The Tudum story also noted that the two final seasons will, indeed, cover the last three novels written for the main Witcher Saga (Baptism of Fire, The Tower of the Swallow, and Lady of the Lake). Sapkowski (who shared his not-so-great thoughts on the show in early 2023) only wrote five novels in the main saga, with a couple of short story collections being published prior, and one standalone novel coming along after.
The first three seasons of the hit used tales from both short story collections and the first two novels to begin the adventures of Geralt of Rivia and fill out the histories of Princess Ciri and powerful mage Yen, and showed how our heroes eventually became a family. That’s a lot of content that was mined for only Seasons 1-3, so it makes sense that the writers were able to craft a two-season arc to wrap things up out of the last three novels.
How Is Liam Hemsworth Going To Take Over For The Witcher's Henry Cavill Anyway? We Just Got A Hint
Also, there’s the little matter of Mr. Hemsworth, himself. For the first three seasons, noted beefy fantasy geek Henry Cavill (who’s now working on a Warhammer adaptation and a Highlander reboot) had worn Geralt’s armor as the White Wolf and the lead of the series. While people typically had many mixed feelings about the show overall, no one disputed his commitment to bringing Geralt to life, with Sapkowski praising his performance around the time Season 1 dropped in December 2019.
But, fans were dealt a blow in October 2022, when Cavill announced that he was leaving the role after the third season, which, by the way, was still many months away from airing. Many viewers, who adored his portrayal, were angered to the point of starting and signing a petition to fire the writers and get him back on the show, seeing as how there were rumors that he and many of those crafting the story were clashing on the direction things were taking, and that some of the creatives actually “actively disliked” the source material.
All of this, prior to the release of The Witcher Season 3, led to less than enthusiastic fan responses to those episodes, with the ratings showing a significant dropoff, not just for each new episode, but also compared to Season 2.
On top of that, the once active Witcher franchise on Netflix has failed to gain ground in other areas, especially with the live-action prequel, The Witcher: Blood Origin, trying to further the lore but not being met with any great reception.
Certainly none of this is the fault of Liam Hemsworth. In fact, fans seem to be on his side, despite their desire to have Cavill back and all the writers fired, because when promos for the third season were seen as throwing Hemsworth under the bus, that pissed fans off, too.
While the Hunger Games star has been showing off his ripped Geralt physique, it seems that Netflix has decided to cut its losses, and let the series wrap with one additional season. We’ll be hearing more about The Witcher as filming on Seasons 4 and 5 continue.
