When Paddington returned to cinemas on Friday, audiences may have noticed something unusual about the Brown family. Mrs Brown has had a full body transplant. Sally Hawkins, who played matriarch Mary Brown in the first two films, announced last year that she was stepping down from the furry franchise. In the new “threequel”, Paddington in Peru, she has been replaced by Emily Mortimer. Happily her ursine adoptee doesn’t seem to have noticed, or he might have choked on his marmalade sandwiches.
This isn’t the only major piece of recasting to be hitting our screens soon. The fourth season of Netflix fantasy epic The Witcher sees star Henry Cavill hang up his sword as peroxide-mulleted monster-hunter Geralt of Rivia. Liam Hemsworth will pick up the White Wolf’s weaponry for the climactic two series. Nor will Kim Bodnia return, due to a scheduling clash with Apple TV+ motorsport film F1, so the role of Vesemir, Geralt’s father figure, will be recast.
