Sharlto Copley, James Purefoy, and Danny Woodburn will join the likes of Liam Hemsworth, Anya Chalotra, and Freya Allan on the cast of Netflix's The Witcher Season 4.
As reported by Variety, the three actors join the series as three fan favourite characters, including one familiar to players of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt video game: Zoltan Chivay.
Woodburn (Seinfeld, Jingle All the Way) plays the role, as Season 4 is set to depict Zoltan's initial meeting of Geralt (played by Hemsworth, who replaces Henry Cavill) in its adaptation of Baptism of Fire, the third Witcher novel from Andrzej Sapkowski.
Purefoy (Fisherman's Friends, Solomon Kane) plays Nilfgaard aristocrat and spy Stefan Skellen, while Copley (District 9, Chappie) takes on the role of the series' next big villain: Leo Bonhart. This infamous bounty hunter is a bane to Ciri (played by Allan) and her friends, and his swordfighting abilities have even earned him the heads of three witchers, the medallions of whom he carries as trophies.
The Witcher Season 4 sees Geralt searching for Ciri following the events of the Thanned Coup, which played out in the Season 3 finale. It's on this journey he comes across a new group of friends, which includes the dwarf Zoltan alongside the medical practitioner and refined gentleman Regis, officially Emiel Regis Rohellec Terzieff-Godefroy, who is played by Matrix and Marvel actor Laurence Fishburne.
"After the shocking, Continent-altering events that close out Season 3, the new season follows Geralt, Yennefer [played by Chalotra], and Ciri who are faced with traversing the war-ravaged Continent and its many demons apart from each other," the official Netflix synopsis reads. "If they can embrace and lead the groups of misfits they find themselves in, they have a chance of surviving the baptism of fire — and finding one another again."
Critical reception of The Witcher on Netflix is mixed so far, with IGN awarding Season 1 a 6/10, Season 2 a 7/10, and Season 3 a 7/10 and 5/10 over its split season in our reviews. "The Witcher closes out its most compromised season yet by once again losing Henry Cavill in the clunky, plot-heavy shuffle," we said of the most recent episodes.
A wave of criticism also emerged after a former Netflix producer claimed some Witcher writers "actively disliked" and even mocked the source material. Showrunner Lauren Hissrich denied this, however, advising fans to not believe everything they read. Executive producer Javier Grillo-Marxuach also spoke out in defence of Netflix's commitment to the books.
The biggest trial is still ahead of Netflix, however, as Cavill walked away from the show following the completion of Season 3. The actor hasn't given an explicit reason for leaving, though said in November 2021 he was absolutely committed to a seven season run of The Witcher "as long as we can keep telling great stories which honour Sapkowski's work".
Hissrich said the show could've ended or moved on without Geralt after Cavill's departure, but Netflix wasn't willing to because "there's just too many stories left to tell". Hemsworth is training heavily and reading the book series in preparation for taking the role on, with production scheduled to begin sometime in spring 2024.
Image Credit: Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic, Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images, Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
