Doug Cockle Discusses Portraying Geralt in Netflix's Witcher

While Henry Cavill may be the most renowned actor to have portrayed Geralt of Rivia, he isn't the first name that comes to mind within the gaming community. For many gamers, Doug Cockle, the iconic voice behind Geralt in CD Projekt Red's critically acclaimed RPG series, is the definitive White Wolf. Their paths have now intertwined, with Cockle lending his distinctive voice to Netflix's animated film, The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep.

In this new role, Cockle doesn't reprise his video game Geralt but brings the same vocal approach that fans have cherished for nearly two decades. Importantly, he wasn't asked to mimic the mannerisms or tone of Henry Cavill or Liam Hemsworth, who steps into Cavill's shoes in the upcoming live-action series. This allowed Cockle to maintain the gritty, recognizable voice that he first developed for the original Witcher game back in 2005.

Reflecting on his early days, Cockle shared, "The thing I found most challenging about recording Witcher 1 was actually the voice itself. 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." Initially, with no clear guidelines on session duration, he spent up to nine hours a day recording, which took a toll on his vocal cords. However, by the time he worked on The Witcher 2, his voice had strengthened, much like an athlete conditioning their muscles.

The arrival of English translations of Andrzej Sapkowski's books during the development of The Witcher 2 was a turning point for Cockle. "The books started to come out in English while I was recording Witcher 2," he said. "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."

Cockle's immersion in the books helped him better grasp the character's emotional complexity. "The developers kept saying, 'He's emotionless'," Cockle recalls. "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 appreciation for Sapkowski's writing deepened his connection to the fantasy universe, reminiscent of his childhood love for Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Among Sapkowski's works, Season of Storms stands out to him as a story he'd love to voice again for Netflix. "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."

Currently, fans can enjoy Cockle's Geralt in The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep, an animated film inspired by the short story A Little Sacrifice from the Sword of Destiny collection. The film offers a dark twist on Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid, involving Geralt in a clash between two kingdoms. Yet, it's the lighter moments that intrigue Cockle, particularly a humorous exchange around a campfire with Jaskier, showcasing Geralt's often-overlooked 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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While much of Cockle's work on Sirens of the Deep felt familiar, he faced a unique challenge: learning to speak a fictional language, mermaid. "I found doing this really difficult," he admits. "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."

Looking forward, Cockle is set to return to the video game world with The Witcher 4, unveiled at The Game Awards last year. This time, Geralt will take on a supporting role, with Ciri stepping into the spotlight. "I think it's a really good move," Cockle says about the shift in focus. "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."

To delve deeper into what CD Projekt Red has planned, check out our comprehensive interview with the creators of The Witcher 4. And to catch more of Doug Cockle, don't miss The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep on Netflix, or follow him on Instagram, Cameo, and X.