The Witcher: Liam Hemsworth is training for role by reading the books

For any job that we’re tasked with, it’s always important to prepare and give it your all, and that process is no different for actors.

One such actor is Liam Hemsworth, who has the gruelling task of replacing the much-loved Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia in Netflix’s The Witcher series. Last year it was announced that Cavill was to leave the Netflix series, which upset fans so much, that at the time of writing, a Change.org petition has garnered over 300,000 signatures.

This means that season three of The Witcher will be Cavill’s last as Geralt of Rivia before Hemsworth attempts to fill that void in season four as well as the already confirmed season five.

In preparation for the prestigious role, Hemsworth has been reading novels from Andrzej Sapkowski. When speaking to IGN, Joey Batey, who plays bard Jaskier in the Netflix series, was asked if he’d have any advice for Hemsworth on taking over the role from Cavill.

“We wouldn't really give advice,” said Batey. “I think our job is to welcome him, as we would to any new cast member, is to say 'Come on in, we know it's a lot, it's a lot, there's a lot going on,' and to listen and be patient and commit as hard as we have done this far.”

However, in another interview with GamesRadar, Batey revealed that he’s in direct communication with Hemsworth, giving us an insight into his preparations for the leading role.

“We've been emailing, we've been exchanging our favourite quotes from the books and things like that,” revealed Batey. “I don't think any of us are in the position to advise on playing Geralt, but he's throwing himself into it. His training regime is insane, and he's been devouring the books.”

Season three of The Witcher premieres today (29 June) with its first five episodes, and the remaining three episodes arrive on Netflix on 27 July 2023.

It remains to be seen whether Hemsworth will be able to fill Cavill’s void, but we certainly hope so. Regardless, there's little doubt that Cavill’s final moments in the series will be heartbreaking.