It turns out that Liam Hemsworth was almost cast as The Witcher back in 2018
Look, we're all sad that Henry Cavill won't be Geralt anymore. And I think a lot of us also harbor doubts that his replacement on Netflix's hit fantasy series, Liam Hemsworth, is up to the task of filling the role.
He's probably a very nice guy but he seems more like a Lambert type: younger, smaller, kind of a headache, more prone to getting himself into avoidable trouble that he's not quite up to handling. A little brother figure, I suppose, although that could just be preconceived notions speaking. Hemsworth is of course an actual little brother—to Thor actor Chris Hemsworth, who is without doubt a man of Cavillian stature.
That said, Hemsworth hasn't landed the role just because he happened to be standing nearby when Henry quit. According to Witcher fan site Redanian Intelligence, he actually auditioned for the job in 2018, and while the gig ultimately went to Cavill, Hemsworth was one of the frontrunners.
In fact, Hemsworth made such a positive impression that when it came time to find a replacement Geralt, Netflix reportedly did not hold a full casting process for the role but instead just picked him as the new Geralt.
I won't lie, I still have a very hard time envisioning this guy:
As this guy:
But then again, I said the same thing about this guy:
And it all worked out very well in the end. So for now, I'm feeling a little more optimistic about Hemsworth's casting, and I'll definitely be sticking around to watch The Witcher season 4—although if Henry changes his mind somewhere between now and then, that'd be fine too.
Some fans are already sharing mockups of Hemsworth in the Geralt role, and while it's completely speculative, it's not a terrible look. Maybe a little more Thor-like than I'd prefer, but there's probably not much to be done about that.
Before any of that, though, we've got The Witcher season 3, which will feature Cavill in the lead role. It's expected to release sometime in summer 2023.