The template is far worse for the future of the fantasy series

Henry Cavill will no longer be Geralt. We have to put up with that. Because The Witcher continues with season 4 without him. The Netflix series faces the daunting task of also inspiring Liam Hemsworth as the witcher successor. The unfortunate recast of the main character isn’t the biggest problem Season 4 has to face though. It’s the book template.

Baptism of fire for The Witcher: The template for season 4 is not enough

The Netflix series The Witcher is based on the witcher novels by Andrzej Sapkowski *. Season 1 adapted several short stories, while seasons 2 and 3 each adapted one of the first two novels in the witcher pentalogy. Sometimes more and sometimes less close to the template. The logical conclusion is that Season 4 implement the third volume, Baptism of Fire becomes. And here the problem begins.

Filming Andrzej Sapkowski’s witcher saga is a daunting challenge in itself. Adapting the saga book by book is actually the wrong approach for a series. Because the five published books do not have their own narrative structure. Rather, they are morsels of the epic story as a whole. That means concretely: The individual books often have no clear beginning and no clear ending for the main characters.

For example, at the end of Book 2, The Age of Contempt, Ciri (Freya Allan) begins a new adventure that was picked up on in the Season 3 finale. She joins the rat gang under the name Falka. This chapter of their story is continued in the baptism of fire and only reaches a dramaturgical and tragic climax in Book 4, Der Schwalbenturm.

In order for the events surrounding Ciri’s character to get a real arc of suspense in season 4, The Witcher would ideally need the Summarizing stories from three books. However, this does not solve the basic problem that the Netflix series is approaching.

Liam Hemsworth All Alone: ​​The Witcher splits entirely into 3 stories

The Witcher is not only the story of Geralt, but also that of Ciri and Yennefer (Anya Chalotra). Their dynamic as a family of choice was one of the great strengths of Season 3. In the template’s story, the Main characters from now, however, separated for a long time. So in Season 4, the series could split into three completely different narrative threads with no intersections.

In the season 3 finale, the Witcher family is together for the last time

Another problem: Not much happens in Baptism of Fire. Ciri’s rat experiences are only peripheral and Yennfer only appears in a sequence already narrated in Season 3. For the remaining 80 percent of the book, Geralt is on a journey. He wanders the continent, joined by new allies. A real arc of suspense that leads us through eight episodes is not.

Then Geralt’s new journey is going nowhere. By the end of the next book, he hasn’t gotten any closer to Ciri and has no clue as to where she really is. As series viewers, that would be incredibly frustrating for us. Now why should we wait two years for a new season where Geralt is actually just walking in the wrong direction? We already know she’s not in Nilfgaard.

Of course, at the end of the novel there is a massive (but brief) battle involving Geralt and his companions. But that alone is not enough to fill an entire season 4.

The biggest problem for Netlfix’ The Witcher: Time is running out

After the thematically appropriate farewell to Henry Cavill’s Geralt, many fans are already in a mood of doom. Sure, season 4 is officially ordered and even season 5 is in development, reports Redanian Intelligence. Whether the series with Liam Hemsworth can rekindle the hype of the first seasons is questionable.

There is a great danger that The Witcher could end earlier than expected, season 4 should not bring the desired success. That would be a meltdown for fans of the fantasy saga if the series adaptation ended without a conclusion. It would therefore make sense to say goodbye to the previous structure – one book per season – for the coming season.

Instead of continuing as before and stretching the events of the original with newly invented material as in Season 2, the Netflix series should prefer to advance faster in the history of the books. The series still has three novels to adapt. But do you still have time for it?

You can hear more about The Witcher season 4 and the problems of the Netflix series in the podcastIn the 3rd season, Netflix’s fantasy hit The Witcher says goodbye to Henry Cavill as the main actor. In the future, the witcher will be played by Liam Hemsworth. Can the series, with all of its planned spin-offs, survive this setback?

We discuss with FILMSTARTS guest Sebastian whether Henry Cavill’s farewell was successful, what strengths and weaknesses the Season 3 finale brings to Netflix and how The Witcher will continue.

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