Desperate For Viewers, Netflix’s ‘The Witcher’ Casts Laurence Fishburne As Race-Swapped Version Of Vampire Emiel Regis
Spencer Baculi
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In a move seemingly motivated by the series’ desperate need for viewers, Netflix has announced that actor Lawrence Fishburne has officially been tapped to portray a race-swapped version of the vampiric surgeon-barber Emiel Regis in The Witcher‘s upcoming (and Henry Cavil-less) fourth season.
This addition of the Matrix and John Wick series star to The Witcher‘s cast was first confirmed by the series’ home streaming service via a press release published on the morning of January 12th.
In a brief statement offered alongside the news, Fishburne asserted, “I’m very excited to be joining the cast and look forward to exploring the wondrous world of The Witcher.”
Interestingly, Fishburne’s debut in the live-action adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski’s seminal work will occur simultaneously with The Hunger Games franchise star Liam Hemsworth’s, who beginning with the series’ next season is set to replace the aforementioned Cavil as the series’ lead character, Geralt of Rivia.
“As a Witcher fan, I’m over the moon about the opportunity to play Geralt of Rivia,” said Hemsworth in a statement issued at the time of his 2023 casting. “Henry Cavill has been an incredible Geralt, and I’m honoured that he’s handing me the reins and allowing me to take up the White Wolf’s blades for the next chapter of his adventure. Henry, I’ve been a fan of yours for years and was inspired by what you brought to this beloved character. I may have some big boots to fill, but I’m truly excited to be stepping into The Witcher world.”
To this end, as noted above, it’s hard not to speculate that, in light of its ongoing decline in quality and its losing of Cavil (not to mention the reputational hit taken by the entire production thanks to the subsequent smear campaign leveled against him by female members of its crew), Netflix sought to hire the near-universally beloved Fishburne in order to give audiences some reason to tune in to The Witcher when it returns.
Yet, while Fishburne’s casting does allow The Witcher to benefit from his star power, it also signals that the series’ production team is doubling down on their disregard for its source material, as his casting as the fully-named Emiel Regis Rohellec Terzieff-Godefroy stands as yet another instance of Hollywood race-swapping.
Admittedly, none of Sapkowski’s original texts make any explicit reference as to the skin color of Geralt’s undead ally, with his appearance instead being simply described in the series’ third novel, Baptism of Fire, as featuring “a nobly aquiline nose,” the build of “a slim, middle-aged man”, and “black eyes beneath slightly greying eyebrows”.
A moment later they saw a grizzled head and then a face embellished with a nobly aquiline nose, belonging by no means to a ghoul but to a slim, middle-aged man. Percival hadn’t been wrong. The man did indeed somewhat resemble a tax collector. ‘Is it safe to come out?’ he asked, raising black eyes beneath slightly greying eyebrows towards Geralt.
Regis makes his debut in Baptism of Fire (1996), Andrzej Sapkowski
However, in his every depiction thereafter, including CD Projekt Red’s video game trilogy, their stand-alone Gwent digital card game, and even the UK cover art to the series’ sixth novel The Tower of the Swallow, Regis has been explicitly depicted as a white male, his coloring exacerbated by his blood-thirsty affliction.
Sadly, as long-time fans of The Witcher may already know, such intentional disregard for Sapkowski’s creative vision has become par for the course when it comes to Netflix’s adaptation.
From revealing their version of notorious womanizer Jaskier/Dandelion to be bisexual, to their likewise race-swapping of Triss Merigold, to the entirety of whatever the original series The Witcher: Blood Origin was, the production team in charge of Geralt’s adventure has practically made it their trademark to run roughshod over the series’ source material.
As of writing, production on The Witcher‘s fourth season is currently set to commence sometime in Spring 2024.
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