“I wanted those fight scenes at the beginning of the journey to feel reactive. It’s a chance for him to get out his frustration. Yes, it’s directed at the right people, but it’s still not exactly how he would normally react in that situation. Being in that vulnerable, frustrated place that he’s in when it does get to that place of friction and tension or a place where he can protect others, I think it’s a little more aggressive than it usually is. It’s brutal.”
It helps that Hemsworth is taking over this role at a moment of radical change for the character, when he’s essentially required to be siloed off from the series’ other remaining leads. But instead of leaning into Geralt’s traditional loner status, season 4 thrusts him alongside the ragtag group known as his hansa, who ultimately become something of a found family for a man who long prided himself on never getting involved with others.
Bard Jaskier (Joey Batey), archer Milva (Meng’er Zhang), former Nilfgaardian commander Cahir (Eamon Farren), dwarven adventurer Zoltan (Danny Woodburn), mysterious vampire Regis (Laurence Fishburne), and returning friend Yarpen (Jeremy Crawford) all bring different skills and abilities to the group as fighters and heroes, but their most important contributions may just be the lessons about family and humanity they teach Geralt along the way.
This is perhaps nowhere more apparent than in Geralt’s interactions with Regis, an enigmatic barber-surgeon and centuries-old vampire who knows precisely what it is to be something both other and alone. On paper, Regis may make for an unlikely mentor for a man like Geralt, but there’s certainly something that speaks to him about this old soul with a philosopher’s spirit who has seen, survived, and perhaps even managed to forgive himself for so much. Even if he is a vampire.
“I think that there’s this very interesting connection between the two right when they meet,” Hemsworth says. “Geralt is thrown by this weird sort of feeling of trust towards this person, and finds himself opening up and accepting somewhat pretty quickly and reluctantly, because that’s the way he would deal with anyone. It takes a little time for Geralt to get to that place.”
As for his new vampire bestie, Regis simply sees a kindred spirit, despite their differences in origin and (technically) species, and is one of the few who is willing to see him as something more than the monster he is often called to become.