Witcher Theory: Hemsworth's Geralt Isn't From A Multiverse - It's Way More Meta

Following news that Liam Hemsworth will take over for Henry Cavill in "The Witcher" Season 4, some fans of the franchise familiar with its literary source material began to speculate that the forthcoming change in Geralt's appearance might result from Hemsworth's version of Geralt coming from a parallel universe. In an interview with Polish newspaper Wyborcza translated into English by fantasy blog Redanian Intelligence, executive producer Tomek Baginski debunked this multiverse theory and effectively confirmed a different in-fiction explanation for Geralt's new look.

"Many book readers forget what Andrzej Sapkowski did in the fifth volume of the saga," Baginski said. "For me, this is one of the most important things in the whole story. I'm not talking about specific events, but the narrative framework that was introduced in this book. Suddenly, at the beginning of the book, we learn that everything we've read so far might not have been true."

What Baginski is describing is a revelation in fifth "Witcher" novel "The Lady of the Lake" that its ongoing story is a legend from its narrator's past, the particulars of which may differ from objective reality. Introducing this element into the Netflix TV series, then, will help justify Geralt's revised look, presumably after a new storyteller takes over and claims Geralt appeared more Hemsworth-like than viewers were previously led to believe.

In his interview with Wyborcza, Tomek Baginski went on to clarify how reality works in the "Witcher" universe as of the all-important "Lady of the Lake" revelation — while the story of Geralt and friends happened one specific way, how bard Jaskier (played by Joey Batey in the TV series) tells it might differ from how it's remembered in elven society, for example. So, whereas the Netflix show has presented the perspective of presumably just one storyteller so far, Baginski is implying that Season 4 will introduce the perspective or perspectives of at least one if not multiple new narrators.

"Everything was turned upside down, and suddenly it turned out to be some postmodern play with form. It was supposed to be fantasy, but it turned into a philosophical discourse on the nature of reality," he continued, referring to the fifth "Witcher" novel. "Suddenly, it turns out that we can jump forward and backward in this narrative, change the context of what happened, etc. I see what's happening among the fans and how rigidly they interpret what 'The Witcher' is. But the truth is, the ways of interpretation can vary widely."

From the sound of it, then, Season 4 will shake up the "Witcher" universe in more ways than just altering Geralt's appearance once the idea that reality depends on who's narrating it becomes canon.