Liam Hemsworth has not made much of a splash in his turn as Geralt in the fourth season of The Witcher TV series on Netflix. In the words of SEO editor Lauren Morten, “he’s basically invisible,” while weekend editor Jody Macgregor said The Witcher has “become an ensemble show where he’s basically supporting cast.” Not awful, no, but not exactly ringing endorsements there, either.
One person who does think Hemsworth is doing an admirable job is Doug Cockle, the man who gave voice to Geralt across three Witcher videogames. “I loved Henry,” Cockle told GamesRadar at the 2025 Golden Joystick Awards, where he and Ciara Berkeley, who portrays Ciri in The Witcher 4, presented the award for Best Storytelling. “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.”
Ciri (Ciara Berkeley) and Geralt (Doug Cockle) presenting the Best Storytelling award at the Golden Joystick Awards. from r/Witcher4
That really cuts to the core of Hemsworth’s challenge. We all loved Henry in The Witcher, through the first season at least. Early pictures of Cavill were iffy, but he absolutely nailed the role, including a vocal style inspired by Cockle himself.
That’s a tough act to follow, and Hemsworth does himself no favors, as Jody wrote in his review of The Witcher season 4, because he doesn’t do the voice. (The voice is very important.) But he’s also coming in just as The Witcher story gets bigger and broader, and some of the new additions to the cast, including Lawrence Fishburne, Danny Woodburn, and Sharlto Copley, bring heavyweight talent to the table. The main players—Anya Chalotra as Yennefer, Freya Allan as Ciri, and Joey Batey as Jaskier—are no slouches themselves, and have had three seasons to get comfortable with their roles.
But while Hemsworth isn’t trying to do a straight-up imitation of Cavill’s take on the character, Cockle sees that as a plus. “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,” he continued. “So I’m looking forward to seeing season five eventually, and seeing where it goes.”
The Witcher season 4 has not fared especially well critically, nor has it maintained the viewer numbers of the previous seasons, but even so a fifth and final season is all but guaranteed: It was shot back-to-back with season four, so it’s basically done at this point. A debut date for the fifth season hasn’t been announced but we’re currently expecting it to drop sometime in late 2026.
