By When someone says “Geralt recast”, one immediately thinks of the Netflix series going from Henry Cavill to Liam Hemswoth in its final two seasons, but that wasn’t the only Geralt that was once considered for recasting as Doug Cockle was almost replaced as well many years ago during the development of the second Witcher game.
Doug Cockle recounts the story of how Geralt was almost recast in The Witcher 2
Speaking on the Behind the Voice podcast, Doug Cockle remembers the time when CD Projekt Red were considering finding a new voice for Geralt going from The Witcher into The Witcher 2: “What actually happened was I used to teach full time as well as do my voice acting on the side and teaching acting. And I was in the office one day and I got a phone call from a friend saying, I’ve just auditioned for Geralt of Rivia, but I thought you voiced Geralt of Rivia. And I was like, I do.“
He continues: “I contacted CD Projekt, I just heard you’re recasting. Don’t know why you’re recasting, but I’d love to throw my hat in the ring again. I’d love to be considered again. Let me know if I can audition. And they came back and said, well, actually, we’ve had the the vocal director listen to your work again from Witcher 1 and we would like you to come back.“
Doug Cockle then reveals what actually happened and why his role was in question in the first place: “I didn’t find out until a week or two after we started recording Witcher 2. Basically the main vocal director said CD Projekt just wanted to go in a whole different direction. They wanted to rethink everything. So we went back to the drawing board with everything.“
He also talked about how the initial news felt when he heard it: “I did have all those feelings. I did think, well, I wonder what I did wrong. I wonder what they didn’t like about my performance. It had nothing to do with me at all. But I didn’t know that.“
Cockle reflects on situations when life throws such news at you: “So it’s easy for us to internalize when we get bad news or news that isn’t good. It’s really easy to internalize that and go, well, I must really stink then. I must be really bad or I must have done something wrong or I’ve offended someone I’ve done something to make this happen, right? And maybe you have, but maybe you haven’t. And until you know, why worry about it? You have no control over it except to then decide on a course of action and take that action.“
Now, a decade and a half later, Doug Cockle is still Geralt of Rivia, he’s back in CD Projekt Red’s newly revealed The Witcher 4 and he’ll voice Geralt in The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep anime. So everything worked out qute well.
The Witcher Season 4 is has been out since October 30, 2025. Andrzej Sapkowski’s new Witcher book Crossroads of Ravens is available internationally since September 30, 2025. CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher 4 is now in full production.
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