Doug Cockle, the smoky voice behind Geralt of Rivia, never expected the Witcher series to take off and develop into the cultural giant it is today.
Before landing the lead role in CD Projekt Red’s first Witcher RPG – itself an adaptation of a fantasy novel series not particularly popular outside Poland – Cockle’s video game experience was limited to minor characters in RuneScape, TimeSplitters 2 and the iconic role of “Additional Voices” in Perfect Dark Zero.
When he first walked into the recording booth for Geralt, “nobody really cared or cared,” Cockle says in an interview with The Guardian. “(The Witcher) was a cult game. Until suddenly it wasn’t. I had no idea how big the game had become until about six months after Witcher 3 came out.”
This isn’t just a matter of opinion, either. The Witcher 2 sold around 8 million copies in its first three years on shelves, while The Witcher 3 reached those numbers within a few months and has since sold a monstrous 50 million copies. Big difference, right?
Cockle’s take on the monster hunter is now (almost) as famous, with the live-action Netflix series largely mimicking his brooding voice and gruff inflections. Cockle is so memorable in the role that he’ll be back to wielding dual swords in the upcoming animated series The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep.
The more pressing question for longtime fans is whether Cockle’s voice will fail on The Witcher 4, which currently has “over 400” developers working on it. Last we heard, Cockle repeatedly said he had “no idea” what the new Witcher trilogy would be about, before suggesting that the world-traveling Ciri would take the spotlight.
The Witcher 4 will not be “The Witcher 3 remastered,” says CDPR, “we will add new gameplay elements and new mechanics.”
