While Henry Cavill is widely recognized for portraying Geralt of Rivia, within the gaming community, Doug Cockle's voice is synonymous with the character, thanks to his role in CD Projekt Red's acclaimed Witcher series. The worlds of Cavill and Cockle have now intertwined with Cockle lending his iconic voice to Geralt in Netflix's animated film, *The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep*.
In this new venture, Cockle does not mimic Cavill or Liam Hemsworth, who will take over the role in the live-action series. Instead, he retains the deep, gravelly voice that has defined his Geralt for nearly two decades, ensuring fans hear the familiar tones they've come to love.
Cockle developed this distinctive voice during the recording of the first Witcher game in 2005. He found the initial sessions challenging, pushing his voice to its limits. "The thing I found most challenging about recording Witcher 1 was actually the voice itself," he recalls. "When I first started recording the game, (Geralt’s) voice was very, very far down in my register. It was something I had to push towards." The long recording sessions, often lasting eight or nine hours, left his throat strained, but over time, his vocal cords adapted, much like an athlete conditioning their muscles.
During the recording of *The Witcher 2*, English translations of Andrzej Sapkowski's books became available, offering Cockle a deeper understanding of Geralt. "The books started to come out in English while I was recording Witcher 2," he explains. "Before that, it was the developers from CD Projekt Red who taught me everything I needed to know about Geralt. So as soon as *The Last Wish* came out in English, I was down at the bookstore buying it, and I tore through it. And I understood things about Geralt just from reading just that one book that I didn't understand at all before."
The developers had emphasized Geralt's emotionless demeanor, which Cockle found challenging as an actor eager to explore emotional depth. "The developers kept saying, ‘He's emotionless’," Cockle says. "And I was like, ‘Okay, I get it, I get it, but I'm an actor. I want to play with emotions.’ But I better understood [when reading] the book why they were pushing for as flat as possible of an emotional life for him."
Cockle's admiration for Sapkowski's writing grew, particularly with *Season of Storms*, a story he hopes to voice in future adaptations. "It's one of those stories that when I read it, I was like, ‘Oh, this is horrible. This is awful.’ [But] it's thrilling at the same time," he says. "There's some really graphic fight scenes that Sapkowski gives to us, and I think that would be a really fun story to turn into an anime or a TV episode."
In *The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep*, based on the short story *A Little Sacrifice* from the *Sword of Destiny* collection, Cockle's Geralt navigates a conflict between two kingdoms after a mermaid falls in love with a human prince. While the film offers intense action and political drama, Cockle appreciates the lighter moments, such as a humorous campfire conversation with Jaskier, showcasing Geralt's softer side. "Part of liking acting is liking all those different aspects of a character's personality and the different choices that could be made and how they might approach those choices," Cockle explains. "I enjoy the gravitas of Geralt when he's all serious and mopey and whatever, but I do also like those moments when he's trying to be light. When he's trying to crack a joke and it just doesn't go very well for him most of the time because he's just not funny."
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A unique challenge in *Sirens of the Deep* was voicing in a fictional language, which Cockle found difficult despite having phonetic guides. "I found doing this really difficult," he confesses. "I got phonetic spellings of the words and things so I could get familiar with it and hopefully be okay on the day. And then I got in front of the mic and… it wasn't like performance anxiety or anything like that, it's just that it was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be."
Cockle's return to video games in *The Witcher 4* promises to be a smoother experience. With Geralt as a supporting character to Ciri, the protagonist, Cockle anticipates less dialogue to record. "I think it's a really good move," he says of the shift in focus to Ciri. "I mean, I always thought that continuing the saga, but shifting to Ciri would be a really, really interesting move for all kinds of reasons, but mostly because of things that happen in the books, which I don't want to give away because people, I want people to go read. So yeah, I think it's really exciting. I can't wait. I can't wait to see what they've done."
For more insights into *The Witcher 4*, check out our detailed interview with its creators. And to see more of Doug Cockle, watch *The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep* on Netflix, or follow him on Instagram, Cameo, and X.
