Netflix’s The Witcher has a massive uphill battle going into its fourth and future seasons. The biggest challenge will be the unpredictable reception to Liam Hemsworth’s performance as Geralt of Rivia, taking over from Henry Cavill, who declared Season 3 his final outing in the white wig.
This is on top of the numerous criticisms thrown at the show for its reductionist, often underwhelming adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski’s series of books. However, the future of the series isn’t entirely dead in the water, as there are still several fan-favorite characters yet to make an appearance in Netflix’s series, and one of the best is already set to bite his way into Season 4, with an international A-list actor donning the fangs.
The world of The Witcher is defined by the monstrous creatures that roam The Continent, from the packs of ghouls and nekkers that devour corpses, to the rare Golden Dragons desperately trying to avoid extinction. Among these monsters inspired by European (predominantly Slavic) folklore are blood-sucking vampires. The Witcher has many categories of vampires throughout its world, with Bruxae already being shown in Season 2. But the strongest class of vampires, the Higher Vampire, is set to appear in Season 4 in the form of one of the series’ best characters: Emiel Regis
Update January 18, 2024: This article has been updated following a major new addition to the cast of The Witcher in the role of Emiel Regis.
Regis Is a Surprisingly Pacifistic Vampire
First introduced in the book Baptism of Fire, the novel Season 4 will adapt Emiel Regis Rohellec Terzieff-Godefroy (or just Regis) is a Higher Vampire. What sets this incredibly rare vampiric category apart from the others is their ability to avoid detection from the strongest of magicians, and they are even undetectable by a witcher’s medallion. Geralt and his traveling crew encounter Regis fairly early on in their quest to rescue Ciri from Nilfgaard when both parties are looking for a discreet place to sleep to avoid being caught in the crossfire of the ongoing war.
Regis first attempted to hide from Geralt’s group. However, Regis’s lingering scent of herbs and spices in his bag led the witcher to track him down. After being discovered, Regis formally introduced himself to Geralt and his group and invited them back to his small cottage nearby. After the group partook in way too much drink at Regis’ cottage, Geralt revealed their plans to go to Nilfgaard, to which Regis promptly agreed to join them, believing the area surrounding his cottage was now too unsafe for him to remain there alone.
Throughout the group’s travels with Regis, they come across several groups in search of a local vampire, including a group of peasants on a hunt and a local priest condemning a woman, believing her to be an aid to the vampire. Regis hid his vampiric physiology from the group for quite a while, assuming the witcher would attempt to slay him. However, when Geralt and Dandelion are kidnapped and set to be executed by a local Nilgaardian garrison, Regis is forced to use his supernatural powers to sneakily rescue the condemned pair.
Alongside Milva, Regis becomes a key member of Geralt’s traveling band, frequently consoling the emotionally troubled witcher, providing medical aid to the group, and being one of the main sources of joy and optimism across their journey – alongside the ever-hilarious Dandelion.
Regis Is Beloved in Both the Books & the Games
Regis also makes a major appearance in the Blood & Wine expansion to the critically lorded The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt as a close friend of Geralt who helps him track down the mysterious Beast of Beauclair. Regis became a fan-favorite in both the books and the games simply due to his overwhelming friendliness and hospitality.
Another relatable and respectable aspect of Regis’s character for many is his struggle with addiction. Unlike lower classes of vampires that require human blood to survive, Higher Vampires can survive without drinking blood. However, human blood provides an intoxicating sensation, similar to being severely drunk.
Regis admits to Geralt that he never actually cared for it but only partook as a way to fit in with others of his kind. Regis soon found that he had no anxiety talking to vampire women when under the influence of human blood and quickly became addicted to the sensation as a method of eliminating his social anxiety.
His addiction came to a head when one night, on a mission to find blood, Regis crashed into the well of a small village. The villagers quickly rushed the vampire, impaling, beheading, and burying him. None of these injuries were enough to kill Regis, being a Higher Vampire.
However, it took Regis 50 years to fully regenerate whilst buried, giving him time to understand and evaluate the choices in his life. This led Regis to swear off human blood, as well as alcohol, for the foreseeable future. While Geralt and company were at his cottage, he offered them mandrake hooch (similar to moonshine) but made a point of not wanting to consume any.
Netflix Has Secured a Big Name to Play Regis
As the seasons progressed, Netflix slowly increased the caliber of stars it brought to its adaptation of The Witcher. While the majority of the cast certainly wasn’t unknown, it was safe to say that Henry Cavill was by far the biggest name in Season 1. Season 2 then added Graham McTavish to the mix and introduced Robbie Amell, Meng’er Zhang, and Hugh Skinner in Season 3. However, Season 4 will, by far, feature the highest-profile actor the series has seen to date, and he’s been booked to bring the fan-favorite vampire to life.
Having appeared in some of the largest franchises in cinema history and been nominated for an Oscar, Laurence Fishburne is now set to portray Regis in Season 4 of The Witcher. In a statement following the announcement, Fishbourne said,
“I’m very excited to be joining the cast and look forward to exploring the wondrous world of ‘The Witcher.'”
The decision to acquire such a well-known star for the hotly anticipated role is an overt attempt from the producers to try and win back fans after season 3 and the departure of star Henry Cavill. Fishburne will be joining Henry Cavill’s replacement, Liam Hemsworth, as the newcomers to the show, with Anya Chalotra, Joey Batey, and Freya Allen all currently still set to appear in future seasons as their respective characters.
Season 4 of The Witcher is set to enter production this spring, and is rumored to release some time in early 2025. Before Season 4, the latest anime movie in the franchise, The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep, is scheduled to release in late 2024.
Stream The Witcher on Netflix
