Costume Designer Lucinda Wright On Dressing The Most Ambitious Season of 'The Witcher' Yet

Ruthless Witchers, vengeance-seeking mages, and zen vampires collide in season four of "The Witcher." The real magic, though, happens behind the scenes. Grounding high fantasy in boundary-pushing fashion, costume designer Lucinda Wright—who joined the Netflix sensation in season two—is accustomed to worldbuilding through wardrobe. "'The Witcher’ is a one-off in the worlds it creates," Wright says. "As a designer, it gives you so much freedom."

Confirmed as the penultimate chapter for Geralt (Liam Hemsworth), Yennefer (Anya Chalotra), and Ciri (Freya Allan), season four finds the core trio scattered across the continent. As Geralt attempts to find Ciri with help from an unlikely band of allies, Yennefer endeavours to take down Vilgefortz (Mahesh Jadu), and Ciri teams up with a gang of thieves. With these three on disparate journeys this season, Wright crafted a visual tapestry for each, baking "quiet" Easter eggs into the costumes, while using colour, texture, and shape to hint at each character's quest and mental state.

Of the three, no transformation is more dramatic than Ciri's, according to Wright. Where season two introduced her as a princess, season four finds her edging ever closer to a full Witcher— a shift telegraphed through her lime green leather jacket, belt, and boots. "We've always worked on her moving towards a Witcher look," she says.“Her silhouette's also getting more lethal as she's going along.”

Yennefer's arc is equally stark: the softer energy she carried into season three has been stripped away entirely, replaced by something ferocious. Wright describes her plainly as a killer now, pointing to the season four battle sequence in which she sets out to destroy Vilgefortz as the moment that crystallises just how far the character has come. For Wright, that constant evolution is what keeps the work from ever feeling routine. Each season brings a new wave of characters and challenges, she says, making it feel almost like a new production — even with the same core cast carrying the story forward.

Yennefer's arc is equally stark. The softer energy she carried into season three has been stripped away entirely. “Se's a tiger in four," Wright says. “She's ferocious now. She's a killer as well.” For Wright, that constant character evolution is what keeps the work from feeling routine. Each season brings characters unexpected challenges, making it feel "almost like a new production each time, even though you've still got characters carrying the story on."

As for Geralt, season four marked the long-awaited transition from Henry Cavill to Liam Hemsworth. Wright was careful to honour the character's visual DNA while making space for a new physicality. "It's still Geralt, as in black and silver-studded, and he's got his boot knife, but it's definitely Liam's silhouette,” she says. Where Cavill’s armor was classical and encasing—or as Wright describes it, “like his second skin”—Hemsworth's silhouette is looser, longer, more kinetic. Wright calls him "the street fighter," and notes there's something almost contemporary about the look. “It's more of a motorbike [vibe],” she says. “They're both brilliant, but they're so different, and you still want to keep Geralt's [key] character elements going so that people can see him on the screen.”

It wasn't just Hemsworth's physicality that dictated the changes made to Geralt’s costuming in season four. When Wright read the season four scripts, she says she didn’t envision him in armor. “I instantly thought that the armor look is gone,” she recalls. “This is a Geralt who's looking for his family, who is trusting other people.” Hemsworth embraced the new costuming choice and, in contrast to Cavill, had a much easier experience on set. “I was always there for him, but you know, he could put the costume on himself. He didn't have to be strapped in like poor old Henry was every day. I wanted him to go in, enjoy it, and become his own Geralt." 

The technical demands of a production at the scale of “The Witcher” are considerable, and Wright is well-practised in managing them. A single costume like Hemsworth's jacket might require eight to ten duplicates to account for fight sequences, wet environments, and the general attrition of a long shoot.

"I'm always there on set because I love watching the film process, and also, I want to see how people are in their costumes. I want to actually see if they're struggling with a long train or if they can't see with a helmet, and that's what you're there [for],” Wright says. “You're there to illustrate the filming process and the scripts. That's your job, to make it come alive. So it's really important to watch and listen and work with people." 

As for what's next, Wright tells The Set Set that season five of “The Witcher” has already entered the post-production phase, but can’t tease more. "I think they'd probably cut my head off if I said anything about season five," she jokes. "But it's pretty dramatic, and it's just huge, and it's worthy of all the other seasons. Even in season four, I thought it had gone up a level with new characters—it just seems to get bigger and bigger. I certainly think we went out with a bang, and I can't wait for people to see it when it comes out."