Geralt voice actor “sad” Henry Cavill is leaving Netflix’s The Witcher
By Daniel Roman
It’s been a strange time on the Continent of late. Netflix’s monster-hunting fantasy show The Witcher has been an undeniable hit for the streaming platform, but its future feels less certain than ever after the departure of lead actor Henry Cavill, who plays the show’s titular witcher Geralt of Rivia.
Season 3 has already filmed, so we have one more adventure still ahead with Cavill in the role, but after that Liam Hemsworth will be stepping in to become the new Geralt for season 4. Cavill’s performance was maybe the one aspect of the show that was universally praised by both devotees of the Witcher books and games as well as franchise newcomers, so losing him hurt.
Geralt voice actor sad to see Cavill go: “Henry really embodied the role of Geralt”
The latest person connected to the Witcher franchise to weigh in on Cavill’s departure is Doug Cockle, the voice actor who played Geralt in all of CD Projekt Red’s Witcher video games. “Well I think it’s really sad,” Cockle said on Eurogamer’s podcast One-to-One podcast. “And there’s a lot of people speculating on the reasons why he’s decided to leave, but whatever the reason is, I think it is sad, because Henry, he did a fabulous job as Geralt of Rivia.”
Cockle recalled the first time he met Cavill, when Cavill invited him to the London premiere of The Witcher’s first season. Afterward, the two compared notes. “We spent a good, I don’t know, an hour or two, chatting about the Witcher world and being Geralt of Rivia,” Cockle said.
"I do remember we talked about Superman, we talked about Geralt and The Witcher. We had some similar thoughts about Geralt if I remember correctly. He felt the same way I do about him not being an emotionless being, and I think we can see that in his performance.So yeah, I’m sad to see him go. I wish Liam Hemsworth the very best of fortunes with it. I am excited to see what he does with it but I’m sad to see Henry go, because Henry, I just felt he did a fabulous job."
No matter how good Liam Hemsworth is in the role, it will be a difficult transition because of how attached many fans were to Cavill. Hemsworth was a frontrunner for the part back when Netflix was first casting it. But with a fan petition for Cavill to stay garnering nearly 230,000 signatures and general rumbles of disgruntled confusion from the show’s audience at large, it’s going to be a challenge for the show to win back good will with season 4.
“I feel for him, man,” said Cockle, “because I don’t know that I’ve seen a lot of Liam’s work […] but it’s an impossible position. Because as an actor, you don’t want to turn an opportunity like that down, but at the same time, he’s stepping into some big shoes, you know…Henry really embodied the role of Geralt in a wonderful way.”
Season 3 of The Witcher is slated to hit Netflix next summer. The prequel limited series, The Witcher: Blood Origin, drops on December 25.
As for Cockle, he doesn’t yet know whether he’ll be asked to re-record any dialogue for CD Projekt Red’s upcoming remake of The Witcher 1, but he’d “be there in an instant” if the studio called him.
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