The world of The wizard continues to expand into video games and TV, and in the first a big announcement was made regarding The Witcher 4 and Ciri, which is also a good sign for the Netflix show's future following Henry Cavill's departure and recast. The world of The wizard comes from Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski's book series and became widely popular when it was adapted into video games. The wizard had its first English adaptation in 2019 thanks to Netflix, with Henry Cavill playing the wizard Geralt of Rivia.
The wizard got off to a strong start on Netflix and was a big hit with critics and general audiences alike, but season 2 gained a lot of controversy due to the changes it made to the source material. The third season corrected some of these errors and improved in some parts, but The wizard was unable to fully recover. Season 4 faces even bigger challenges with Cavill's departure The wizardLiam Hemsworth was cast as Geralt, and season three featured some dark storylines. However, the latest The Witcher 4 reveal about Ciri could be a huge lesson for the series now that Cavill is gone.
The Witcher 4's big Ciri reveal is a great sign for the Netflix adaptation
The Witcher 4 is heading in the right direction
While Netflix The wizard prepares for its final two seasons (as it has been confirmed that it will end with season 5), video games have continued their course. The first Wizard The video game was released in 2007, which received positive reviews from critics. The wizard was followed by The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings in 2011 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in 2015, and have two expansion packs and seven spin-off games. Of course, Geralt has been the main character in video gamesbut that's about to change with the fourth entry in the main series.
The big change in The Witcher 4 is that, instead of Geralt of Rivia, the main character is Ciri.
The Witcher 4 is planned to be the first chapter in a new trilogy of The wizard video games set after the events of Wild Huntand its big change is that, instead of Geralt of Rivia, the main character is Ciri. The trailer for The Witcher 4 was revealed at The Game Awards 2024, but its change to Ciri isn't entirely surprising, as the video game series was developing towards this, and is a great way to expand Ciri's story and the world of The wizard.
Of course, video games and Netflix series are completely unrelated, although the latter took some elements and inspiration from the former, but The Witcher 4Geralt's switch to Ciri could be the biggest lesson the series can learn and apply to video games, especially now that Cavill is gone and Hemsworth is taking over.
The Witcher 4 protagonist shows how the Netflix show can handle Henry Cavill's recast
Ciri is the key to The Witcher without Henry Cavill
Geralt's recast on Netflix The wizard It's the biggest challenge the show has faced so far, and while Hemsworth can certainly bring a great version of Geralt of Rivia, there's still a risk that he won't be well-received by audiences. A big plus is that the Netflix show has split the spotlight between Geralt, Yennefer of Vengerberg (Anya Chalotra) and Ciri (Freya Allan), so there's no risk of the show relying too heavily on Geralt – however, with the revamp, Netflix should take note of The Witcher 4.
Focusing more on Ciri in Season 4 should be an easy move for The wizardas season three pretty much set that up. The wizard Season 3 ended with a Fake Ciri being taken to the White Flame and presented to the people of Nilfgaard as the real Princess Ciri. Meanwhile, the real Ciri is transported to the Korath Desert and later rescued by the Rats, who invite her to join them. Ciri introduces herself to the Rats as “Falka”, keeping her true identity a secret.
With this, the show would also take the pressure off Hemsworth and his version of Geralt.
All of this features some of Ciri's most important and dark stories from the bookslike her time with the Rats and the White Flame's true intentions, so shifting the focus to her in Season 4 should happen naturally. Better yet, by doing so, the show would also take the pressure off Hemsworth and his version of Geralt.
Moving away from Geralt as the show's protagonist will make a witcher's complaint even worse
The witcher may not be able to get rid of a big grievance
On changing Netflix's focus The wizard from Geralt to Ciri would be beneficial to the show and Hemsworth would also make a major complaint even worse. The wizard It faced a lot of criticism for a variety of reasons, but the biggest one is the changes it made to the source material. Even though Ciri is the main character in the books, and a very important one, Geralt is still the main character, and shifting the focus to Ciri in Season 4 risks making this particular complaint even bigger.
However, and as mentioned above, this change comes naturally after all the Season 3 setup, so the complaint may not be that big or even exist. The wizard Season 4 has to be smart in how it handles Geralt's recast and the rest of the main characters' biggest stories, and that could be the key to its success or failure.