Becoming The Muse

The Witcher Season 4 Review

The Witcher is a fantasy drama television series created by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich for Netflix. It is based on the book series of the same name by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski. Season 4 of The Witcher premiered on Netflix on 30 October 2024 featuring Liam Hemsworth as the titular character.

The Witcher Season 4 picks up the story from where Season 3 ended with Geralt recovering from his near mortal wounds in the battle with Vilgefortz, meanwhile Yennefer is trying to pick up the pieces and make the world safe for her daughter Cirilla who is still struggling to come to terms with her powers, identity and the destiny she runs towards, the more she runs away from it.

Season 4 of The Witcher is primarily based on the novel Baptism of Fire, while also incorporating elements from the next book, The Tower of the Swallow.

The Good

A notable change introduced in Season 4 of The Witcher is the debut appearance of Liam Hemsworth as Geralt of Rivia… a move which lost the series a fair share of fans and had some of us wondering if Liam could walk in the big shoes left by Henry Cavil. They introduce this change with a lore accurate explanation, that the story is legend told by different storytellers adding embellishments of their own.

Took a bit of getting used to the casting change, but Liam Hemsworth slipped into the role as easily as if he had been The Witcher from season 1. While he lacked the hmmm gruff edginess Cavill brought to the role, Hemsworth embodied a changed Witcher, more empathic, a Witcher with a conscience..

“The Witcher is in a state of flux. You are becoming something new.”

Geralt collects a colourful blend of unlikely allies who meet on the road which includes the bard, a dwarf, an elven archer, and an enemy who becomes an ally. Laurence Fishburne plays an illustrious character in their band of companions lighting up every scene with his enigmatic aura.

And its not just Geralt whose story arc involves finding oneself and finding a new family in the process, Yennefer has her sisterhood of sorceresses and Ciri her rats, a band of thieves. Yennefer is trying to rebuild the sisterhood and find her daughter, a very different character to the one who would have sacrificed everyone and everything to be the most powerful mage.

Ciri who is destined to be one of the most powerful beings is on the run from the chaos she could unleash, reinventing a new version of herself as Falka.

Never lost always found

They brought back more monsters for The Witcher to dispatch, the previous season had sidelined the monster hunting, while it wasn’t at the monster an episode frequency of Witcher Season 1, Season 4 has The Witcher, The Princess and The Sorceress encountering their fair share of monsters, especially the worst kind of monsters, other humans.

The Bad

Liam Hemsworth aint no Henry Cavil despite killing the role… you cant help but compare the performances.

If you jump into season 4 without a refresher on the story so far, you can feel a bit lost as it just presses the resume button from the last moments of season 3, best if you do a bit of a catch-up first.

The story is told on three fronts following whats happening with Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri, giving it a rather meandering and stretched out feel with some aspects and characters underdeveloped. I especially wanted to skip through Ciri’s teen angst journey and aspects of it did not sit well with me.

For the most part, this season sticks closely to the source material but the few changes they made will shake book fans to the core, unnecessarily killing off characters who are not killed in the books.

The Ugly

It has some disturbing battle scenes that can be upsetting to sensitive viewers and it concludes on a rather abrupt ending that will have you searching for the next episode, only to find that was the finale and now you have to wait until the next season…

Also, what was up with the man who wanted to marry his own daughter???

Final Thoughts

The Witcher Season 4 is a paradoxical offering that’s ambitious yet unfocused, with narrative drift the sets the stage for the final two seasons, which will be shot back to back.

Fun Fact: The Rats from Ciri storyline also have their own movie  The Rats: A Witcher Tale which was released alongside The Witcher Season 4.

Have you watched The Witcher Season 4 ? What do you think about the absence of Henry Cavill?