The Witcher star Liam Hemsworth breaks silence on Geralt recasting as stars prepare for the final seasons

The "Hunger Games" alum sits down for his first interview since taking over for Henry Cavill as the White Wolf, while Freya Allan, Anya Chalotra, Joey Batey, and more preview the show's final two seasons.

Freya Allan, Liam Hemsworth, and Anya Chalotra for EW's 'The Witcher' season 4 cover shoot. Photo by Charlie Gray.

Liam Hemsworth is experiencing a true baptism of fire. Surrounded by lit torches and blaring overhead lights, the 6-foot-3 Hunger Games veteran, who's taken over from Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia on The Witcher, leaps through a stained glass window while decked out in heavy armor. You can see the sweat hanging off the medieval wigs on the background extras and seeping through the back of the gaffer's T-shirt. Every time the director calls for a reset is a chance for cast and crew alike to cool off.

Freya Allan, playing Princess Cirilla of Cintra, might have it the worst. She fans herself with her hand in between takes while donning a plumy tearaway gown over trousers.

"That was hell," she tells Entertainment Weekly of that balmy, closed-off stage. "That was actually probably the hottest the stage has got, to be fair."

‘The Witcher’ Gets Season 4 Premiere Date; First Footage Of Liam Hemsworth As Geralt

Netflix has set October 30 for the fourth season premiere of The Witcher with Liam Hemsworth as Geralt of Rivia, a role played by Henry Cavill in the first three seasons. The streamer also dropped the first footage of Hemsworth as Geralt. You can watch it above.

After the shocking Continent-altering events that close out season three, the new season follows Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri who are faced with traversing the war-ravaged Continent and its many demons apart from each other.  If they can embrace and lead the groups of misfits they find themselves in, they have a chance of surviving the baptism of fire — and finding one another again.

Also, as previously reported, Laurence Fishburne joins the upcoming season as Regis, the fan-favorite character from The Witcher books and games. Introduced in Andrzej Sapkowski’s novel Baptism of Fire, Regis is a world-wise Barber-surgeon with a mysterious past who joins Geralt on his journey in Season 4.

‘The Witcher: Sirens Of The Deep’ Trailer: Geralt Takes On Monsters Of The Sea In Netflix Dark Fantasy Animated Film

The Expanse: A Telltale Series game release

‘The Best Man: The Final Chapters’ is First Peacock Original to Land on Nielsen Streaming Series Top 10

After premiering on Dec. 22, “The Best Man: The Final Chapters” became Peacock’s first original project to make it onto Nielsen’s Top 10 streaming rankings.

According to data provided to NBCU by Nielsen and exclusively obtained by Variety, “The Best Man: The Final Chapters” is ranked in the No. 5 position in an early version of Nielsen’s Top 10 Streaming Originals chart for the Dec. 19-25 viewing period, during which it was available for four days. (Exact information about minutes watched during this period is not yet available.)

As such, this also marks the young NBCU-owned streamer’s biggest-ever series debut. That title was previously held by “Bel-Air,” Peacock’s dramatic reimagining of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”

Blood Origin premiere recap

‘Scary Stories’: Saturn Award Nominee, Best Horror Film

The 46th annual Saturn Awards unveiled nominations Thursday by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, the nonprofit that honors the year’s best in genre films, TV, home entertainment and theater.

The wide-ranging list of nominees were led by Disney/Lucasfilm’s Star Wars Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker, which scored the most noms overall with 12 including for Best Science Fiction Release. It was one of several films from last year’s movie awards season that were eligible this year after the group extended its eligibility period to run July 15, 2019-November 15, 2020 and allowed streaming and VOD entrants in the film categories.

Amazon’s The Expanse Is One Of TV’s Best Shows With One Of TV’s Best Characters

It took me a couple days, but I managed to binge all of The Expanse season 4 on Amazon this week after its recent launch, a new era for the show where Jeff Bezos did one of the only good things I’ve ever seen a billionaire do by swooping in to save the show after it was cancelled on Syfy as it was a personal favorite of his. Now, with that Bezos backing, it seems likely that we may see the entire series of James SA Corey books through until the end, and season 4 focuses on Cibola Burn, the fourth book in the series with a few changes.

The show has realized that it can’t really put any of its main characters on ice like the books sometimes does. We always have the main four crew members of the Rocinante, Holden, Naomi, Alex and Amos, but this season we make sure to check in with Avasarala, Bobbie and Drummer as well.

In truth, Cibola Burn might be my least favorite Expanse book to date, though that isn’t saying much considering that I love the entire series and it’s still very good. My issue with it was just that I didn’t love the central four crew members being stuck on a planet for the duration of the story when the series has always been about jetting around in different areas in space. Season 4 mostly solves that by having storylines with Avasarala on Earth, Bobbie on Mars and Drummer and her OPA friends all over space.