Minnie Driver, one of the stars of the Witcher: Blood Origin spinoff series, has defended the upcoming recasting of the series’ protagonist Geralt of Rivia. A fantasy television series called The Witcher made its Netflix premiere in December 2019. It is based on Andrzej Sapkowski’s books of the same name, written in Polish, which have also inspired a popular video game franchise. Henry Cavill filled the part for the first two seasons and a forthcoming third, but Netflix has revealed that Liam Hemsworth would take up the role for the upcoming fourth season.
Entertainment Weekly met with Driver ahead of the release of The Witcher: Blood Origin. During their conversation, the topic of Cavill’s recasting as Geralt in The Witcher came up and Driver expressed her support for it. She stated that the character of Geralt is a great one and that it should be played by different actors, similar to how the lead role in Doctor Who is periodically recast and played by different actors. Driver compared Cavill’s portrayal of the role to that of Hemsworth’s. Below is her full quote:
We come from this tradition of Doctor Who where the Doctor regenerates. I think we need to look at it far more like it’s amazing. It’s an amazing person, it’s an amazing character, and we should have different people playing it.
Why are fans displeased with the new cast of The Witcher?
The news that Liam Hemsworth will be playing Geralt scandalized fans for a number of different reasons. The first is that any fan will naturally be resistant to such a significant shift, mainly because Hemsworth will still be portraying the same role. Some viewers may find it difficult to comprehend precisely how much the character’s appearance will change given the actors’ stark differences in appearance and age differences of seven years.
Cavill’s enjoyment of the part only increased the audience’s sorrow at his departure. Many fans could only take solace in the fact that he was likely leaving the series to return to the DC Universe as Superman, a notion that was reinforced by the mid-credits scene of Black Adam and further confirmed by the actor himself shortly after the movie’s release. Cavill won’t be coming back, though, since James Gunn is working on a new movie featuring a new actor as a younger version of the hero, and Peter Safran and James Gunn have taken over as co-CEOs of DC Studios.
Notable Characters That Have Been Re-cast
The character’s regeneration in Doctor Who has an in-universe reason, which is a slightly different circumstance, even if Driver notes that spectators have become accustomed to The Doctor being frequently recast. Other well-known characters, such as the legendary superspy James Bond and CIA analyst Jack Ryan, have, on the other hand, been portrayed by numerous actors throughout their franchises with little justification. It will take some getting used to, but if The Witcher is released over a long period of time with fluctuating casting, it would ease some of the fans’ complaints about the procedure.