About a week ago, Henry Cavill announced his departure from the fantasy/adventure series, The Witcher, after playing the macabre character of Geralt of Rivia for three seasons. The Man of Steel star also mentioned passing down “the torch” to The Hunger Games actor, Liam Hemsworth in his permanent absence. But this wasn’t the only time the Australian actor had caught the eyes of the showrunners.
Apparently, Liam Hemsworth had auditioned for the role of Geralt of Rivia long back when the Netflix series had still been in a relatively more nascent stage. And he wasn’t the only one. Besides him and Henry Cavill, a certain Romanian-American actor, best known for his work in the superhero franchise of Marvel Studios, was also reportedly one of the candidates to have auditioned for the role.
Marvel’s Sebastian Stan reportedly auditioned for The Witcher
According to sources, Sebastian Stan, who is popular for playing the character of Bucky Barnes, aka, the Winter Soldier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, had been one of the frontrunners for a role in The Witcher back in 2018. Although the rumors were neither debunked nor confirmed, the Captain America: Civil War star was said to have auditioned for Geralt of Rivia in the series.
Many rumors also claimed that it wasn’t the role of the monster hunter that Stan was going to go for but he was instead speculated to play the protagonist’s adoptive brother Eskel, a witcher of the School of the Wolf, the character of which is currently depicted by Basil Eidenbenz in the show.
However, no official confirmation with regard to the same has been delivered yet.
Besides Stan who had allegedly tried his luck at the role, and Cavill who ended up bagging it successfully, Liam Hemsworth was also said to have been one of the top contenders in the race. And now The Dressmaker star is going to portray the very character he’d apparently not gotten back then. Fate truly works in mysterious ways.
Liam Hemsworth to play Geralt of Rivia from S4 of The Witcher
In the wake of Henry Cavill’s unanticipated resignation that the actor announced just a week ago, Liam Hemsworth will now be stepping in his shoes as Geralt of Rivia in the show from season 4 onwards.
It is highly likely that this recasting of Hemsworth in Cavill’s absence didn’t just materialize out of thin air because as per sources, the former had already been one of the contestants back when the star cast still hadn’t been decided. So, the showrunners clearly didn’t pick his name out of the hat.
However, the most interesting part of it all that now remains is just how the Empire State actor will settle into his newly claimed role of The Witcher’s lead character. And considering the way fans reacted to the news of Hemsworth replacing Cavill, there sure is a lot of pressure on the former.
Let’s just hope he does justice to Geralt of Rivia.
The first three seasons of The Witcher are available for streaming on Netflix.
Source: Redanian Intelligence
