‘The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt’ actor praises Liam Hemsworth’s Henry Cavill takeover

“He's done a fantastic job,” said original Geralt actor Doug Cockle

The voice of Geralt in the beloved Witcher video games has praised Liam Hemsworth’s take on the character in the live-action Netflix series.

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For three seasons, Henry Cavill played ferocious monster hunter Geralt in the Netflix adaptation of The Witcher but in 2023, it was confirmed that he was leaving the show. Cavill has never given a reason for his departure but it’s believed the diehard fan was unhappy with how far the show strayed from the source material.

It was confirmed Liam Hemsworth would be taking over as Geralt for The Witcher season four and five, with his first batch of episodes premiering last month. His take on the character has been a hit with fans and now Doug Cockle, Geralt’s actor in all three Witcher video games, has given his opinion on Hemsworth.

“I loved Henry. He was a fantastic Witcher, Geralt, specifically, so I was sad to see him go, but I have watched the newest season, and I think Liam holds up pretty well,” he said in an interview with GamesRadar+. “He’s different. He’s made it his own character, and that’s what he should have done as an actor, and I think he’s done a fantastic job.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing season five eventually, and seeing where it goes,” he added.

Speaking about taking over from Cavill, Hemsworth said: “It came out of nowhere. I was as surprised as anyone.” He took a break from social media to try and avoid the “noise” about his latest role. “It started to become a distraction. I love making movies and I love telling stories and acting. I just don’t want any of that to affect my way of telling the story that I’m trying to tell,” he added.

He went on to call The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt “one of the best video games of all time”.

Earlier this year, Netflix confirmed The Witcher would end with season five. “We’re thrilled to be able to bring Andrzej Sapkowski’s books to an epic and satisfying conclusion. It wouldn’t be our show if we didn’t push our family of characters to their absolute limit — stay tuned to see how the story ends,” said writer Lauren Schmidt Hissrich who’ll be taking influence from the final three Witcher books Baptism Of Fire, The Tower Of The Swallow and Lady Of The Lake for the remaining episodes.

Cockle has said he’ll return in The Witcher 4 but has less work to do with the upcoming game focusing on his adoptive daughter Ciri. “I always thought that continuing the saga, but shifting to Ciri would be a really, really interesting move for all kinds of reasons, but mostly because of things that happen in the books,” he explained. I think it’s really exciting. I can’t wait to see what they’ve done.”

In other news, Megan Thee Stallion reportedly turned down a collaboration with Call Of Duty after she was shot by Tory Lanez.

• Related Topics
• The Witcher
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

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