Disappointing 18% Rotten Tomatoes Score

The Witcher season 4 was officially released by Netflix yesterday (October 30), and fans have already shared their opinions.

With Henry Cavill’s role as Geralt of Rivia being taken over by Liam Hemsworth, the season was already off to a rocky start. Now, fans have officially had their say, and overall, sseason 4 has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 18%. Some fans even went as far as to say, “Netflix’s Witcher is more like a parody or rather a mockery of Andrzej Sapkowski’s books.”

The previous seasons were rated on Rotten Tomatoes as follows:

Netflix’s The Witcher is based on Sapkowski’s books, which were later made into best-selling, critically acclaimed video games. It follows the story of mutated monster hunter Geralt traversing a dangerous world littered with monsters. He must defend his newfound family against ever-growing threats.

The season began with a voice-over “catch-up” featuring Cavill’s Geralt, who was not fully shown, and then transitioned to Hemsworth. We also saw Geralt leave Yennefer and Ciri and journey on his own, but some of the most crucial scenes fans were waiting for happened in an introductory montage.

There has been much discussion online about whether Hemsworth would be a suitable replacement as the main character. It was reported that Cavill was fired from the series due to conflicts between writers for not being authentic to the source material. While many are pleasantly surprised by Hemsworth’s performance, some aren’t so easily pleased.

Critics’ reviews were only slightly more optimistic about the new direction. One critic stated, “While his predecessor invested Geralt I with a gruff likability, Geralt II is less ‘valorous man-mountain grappling with responsibilities beyond our ken’ and more ‘bollard in a wig‘”.

Not only are some disappointed by Hemsworth, but the story feels incredibly rushed for such a rich world created by Sapkowski. With the quick recap and changes within the series, it feels a bit lackluster when Netflix has proven they’re capable of much more.

The Witcher will officially end with season 5, which was filmed back-to-back with season 4, so it’s expected to be released late next year. Netflix also quietly released a Witcher spinoff titled The Rats: A Witcher Tale. They also have The Witcher: Blood Origin, The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolfand The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep nor suitable spin-offs for those craving more.

Release Date

December 20, 2019

NETWORKS

Netflix

Showrunner

Lauren Schmidt Hissrich

Directors

Stephen Surjik, Charlotte Brändström, Edward Bazalgette, Loni Peristere, Louise Hooper, Bola Ogun, Alex Garcia Lopez, Gandja Monteiro, Sarah O’Gorman

Writers

Haily Hall, Clare Higgins, Javier Grillo-Marxuach, Jenny Klein, Tania Lotia

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  Anya Chalotra

  Yennefer of Wengerberg