Switching the main character of any TV show is difficulty, so when Henry Cavill, who played The Witcher - Geralt of Rivia, stepped away from the character and show, there was fear that the show could go downhill. Unfortunately the fear became reality, as season 4 of the show was significantly less interesting than the previous seasons. Liam Hemsworth replaced Cavill as Geralt, but I'm not sure it was even his fault that the show went downhill. Liam looks like Geralt, and the Witcher by his nature is a man of few words. Liam could grunt and participate in fight scenes as well Henry, and so in that respect I didn't see a major drop off. The biggest issue with season 4 was the writing, and the only way this could have been because of the actor swap is if the writers purposely changed their approach to accommodate Liam. I didn't read that this happened, but I guess I don't know. I did read that Henry left the show because he was not happy with the direction it was going, so if anything it seems like the way season 4 played out was going to happen regardless of who played Geralt.
The issue with Season 4 is the pace of the plot. After the exciting events of season 3 reach their climax, we're left if our three main characters - Geralt, Ciri and Yennifer - seperated once again. Geralt goes on a season long journey to reach Nilfgaard, where he believes Ciri is located. However, the "Ciri" in Nilfgaard is a fake Ciri, planted by Vilgefortz. The real Ciri has joined the street gang known as The Rats. While her story is probably the most interesting one of the three main characters of season 4, I have a little bit of a difficult time liking the fact that the most powerful character in the show has resorted to becoming a common street thief.
As mentioned above, Geralt spends the entire season trying to get to the fake Ciri in Nilfgaard. One episode doesn't even feature Geralt, and another episode is a flashback episode of the characters traveling with him where the plot doesn't advance at all. Liam's Geralt character says very little the entire season, and again I don't know if that is because Liam can't act or if it is because the writers decided to make him boring, but this show has a Witcher problem, which is a big deal when he is the main character of the show.
After Yennifer's team finally breaks Vilgefortz's lock on portals, she is able to quickly portal to Nilfgaard and determine the Ciri there is not the Ciri everyone is looking for. It takes her most of the season to accomplish this, but once she can portal she is there in an instant. That's essentially her story for season 4. Vilgefortz seems more concerned with Yennifer and her group of mages than finding the real Ciri, which seems odd. The only person who seems really interested in finding Ciri is the Nilfgaard spymaster, who hires an assassin to go after her. He ends up killing the Rats but isn't able to finish off Ciri.
To wrap this up, all 3 main characters essentially stay separated the entire season. Ciri, the most powerful person in the world, is now a street thief. Geralt spends the entire season walking on a trail, accomplishing nearly nothing. Yennifer hangs out with her mages, trying to recuperate from the aftermath of the battle from season 3. There's no clear main antagonist anymore. It's just a big letdown from what had been a pretty decent show in seasons 1-3.
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