It’s been a long, somewhat strange, journey for The Witcher, which totally fits, seeing as how that’s what Geralt, Ciri and Yennefer have to deal with on the drama that’s enchanted those with a Netflix subscription since December 2019. We found out just in April 2024 that Season 5 will be our last look at the Continent, but with the fourth season currently in production with a new lead, the future looks kinda tricky. Now, star Freya Allan is defending her new co-star, Liam Hemsworth, from backlash, and admitted “that fanbase can be attacky.”
What Did The Witcher’s Freya Allan Say About Liam Hemsworth And The Show’s Fans?
Word came down that the upcoming The Witcher Season 4 is now officially in production with new Geralt, Liam Hemsworth, at the same time we found out that the fifth set of episodes will be the last ones. But, the Witcher fandom has basically been in an uproar since October 2022, when previous star Henry Cavill revealed that he was leaving the role that had really helped to endear the fantasy series to fans (and Andrzej Sapkowski, the author of the books it’s based on). When speaking with Collider, Ciri’s portrayer, Freya Allan, spoke about what she’s seen of Hemsworth’s efforts so far, saying:
I don’t want to speak for him, but from what I’ve understood, I feel like he’s really wanting to try and bring the heart. He’s been training.
He has, indeed, been training. Just before we got the news that the fourth season was finally filming, the Hunger Games star let everyone see how much work he was putting in to get the ripped Geralt look we’re all so used to seeing. And, the photo was so effective that the sister of his ex-wife, Miley Cyrus, even briefly liked the pic. Allan continued, explaining what she hopes to see from the fans once we finally get a look at him in character:
I feel sorry for him, honestly, because, number one, that fanbase can be very attacky, and it’s not an ideal situation to be in taking up someone else’s role. But I’m really excited to see what he does. And he’s such a lovely guy. I just hope that people give him the time of day, you know.
As noted earlier, the fanbase has been pretty annoyed (to put it mildly) about Cavill no longer being involved with the show. A petition to fire the writers and get him back on board was even started, seeing as how rumors abound that those behind the scenes weren’t crazy about the source material, something that many viewers (and Cavill himself) actually loved and wanted to see adapted as faithfully as possible.
Along with that, there had already been several times in the past where the creative direction of the series was not, shall we say, approved of by much of the audience. There was quite a bit of blowback after Yen betrayed Geralt and Ciri in Season 2, plus, many viewers have been open in general about liking the books more than the show, and the showrunner has gotten into some intense social media storms over series criticisms before.
I’m with Allan in hoping that fans give his version of the White Wolf a chance before completely dismissing it. I haven’t always been 100% on board with everything that happens on the show, but, overall, I’ve felt that it was worth sticking with. So, I see no reason to totally abandon The Witcher just because we have a new lead. Hopefully, millions of other fans will see the value in at least trying Hemsworth’s time on the action-packed series before deciding yay or nay on the final two seasons.
