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The Witcher Showrunner Explains Why Season 4’s Shocking Deaths Had To Happen (And Why They Were Different Than The Books)
The Witcher’s fourth season pulled no punches in terms of intense confrontations and heartbreaking moments, and some of the most shocking moments involved the death of key series characters. That was especially true of four character deaths that did not occur in the original books, including one especially heart-wrenching death of a beloved Witcher. Showrunner Lauren S. Hissrich has addressed the thinking behind each of those deaths, the addition of two new characters, and the overall approach to changing elements from the books.
Hissrich posted some behind-the-scenes photos of the Lodge from season 1, detailing how significant that moment and the Lodge scenes were for her throughout the first season and how important they are to her still. That’s when a fan asked about the decision to kill Keira Metz and Margarita Laux-Antille and replace them with characters who aren’t in the books, and Hissrich explained the variety of factors that went into that decision, as well as what led to Vesemir’s death and the possible reasoning behind Istredd’s death (H/T Redanian Intelligence).
Hissrich wrote, “hi! So many factors go into this, so I will cover as many bases as I can! The first aspect is actor availability. Not every actor is available to us exclusively, so sometimes, they’re already committed to another project when we need them. Schedules in tv are the biggest Tetris game EVER — you’re looking at the schedules of all of your actors, your director, location availability, when sets can be ready, etc. It’s actually a wonder anything gets made! Sometimes, we end up killing (or writing off) a character simply because they’re tied up in something else.”
“For the Lodge, every character is from the books except two: Ximer and Alaina. Ximer was easy: we wanted to show sorceresses from other parts of the Continent, with different magical skills, which we’d never done. In Alaina, we wanted to give Yen a mirror to when she was a novice, so she could recognize some parts of herself but also so she could see how much she’s grown,” Hissrich wrote.
Hissrich then addressed the death of beloved Witcher Vesemir, who died in a battle against Vilgefortz in an attempt to avenge Geralt. Hissrich wrote, “I’ve talked a lot about character death that doesn’t occur in the books, as it relates to Vesemir this season. It’s not about the audience shock value — it’s about shock value to the character. How a death changes a character’s path or motivation — which we know from real life is quite a force.”
“If we killed characters that Yen has never directly interacted with, for instance, it doesn’t have the same value,” Hissrich said. “It doesn’t push Yen forward in the same way. Killing Margarita is an epic loss for Yen and the Lodge — it changes how Yen behaves for the rest of the episode (and series), it changes the level of vitriol and anger she has. Just how badly she needs Vilgefortz to pay for his crimes — to die.”
Hissrich then addressed the Yen and Phillips switch, teasing things to come. Hissrich wrote, “As for Yen and Philippa — this is a story that continues in S5 in a surprising way! So that one I can’t spoil…”
It will be interesting to see how these deaths affect the characters and other parts of the story in season 5, and those were just a few of the deaths throughout the season. While it was sad to lose some of those characters (especially Vesemir), the new characters were great additions, and I’m especially hopeful we get to see more of Luisa Guerreiro’s Ximer in season 5 as well.
The Witcher season 4 is streaming on Netflix now. Season 5 is expected to be released in 2026.
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