Confirmed: The Witcher 4 will not be about Geralt of Rivia

The Witcher is going through a bit of a rebirth period right now. On the television front, leading man Henry Cavill has stepped down as Geralt of Rivia in the Netflix show; when the series returns for season 4, it will feature Liam Hemsworth as the noble monster hunter. But first we’ll be getting a Witcher animated film: The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep. Doug Cockle, the voice of Geralt in the highly-acclaimed Witcher video game series from CD Projekt Red, will be lending his voice talents to the film.

If anyone knows a lot about what goes on behind the scenes of The Witcher games, it’s Cockle, which makes his latest comments especially intriguing. CD Projekt Red is currently developing a follow-up to its smash hit video game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. The new project is codenamed Polaris, but at this point no one outside of the company has any idea what it will be about. That includes Cockle; although he does know one thing that The Witcher sequel is not about: Geralt of Rivia.

“Their focus for the game is not going to be Geralt. They’ve said that, so I’m really excited to see what their focus is. I have ideas but that’s all they are,” Cockle told IGN.

So far, our only real hint about The Witcher 4 we have is an image that CD Projekt Red unveiled in 2020, which shows what appears to be a Witcher medallion in the shape of a lynx lying in the snow. Each Witcher school has its own animal — bear, cat, wolf, griffin, etc. No lynx school exists in either The Witcher video games series or books, which has led to much speculation among fans. Cockle has heard the theories:

"Some people have seen the image of the medallion that has been put out by CD Projekt that looks like a Lynx. They’ve said maybe they’re going back in time to look at some of the origins of the Witcher schools and stuff like that, and maybe they’ll focus on a Witcher from the Lynx School or something. I’m just saying what other people have said."

The theory that gets his personal endorsement is about Geralt’s protege Ciri. SPOILERSfollow for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and The Witcher novels.

“The best theory I’ve heard, because it does make sense, is the theory that they’ll focus on Ciri in her adventures in some way, shape, or form,” Cockle said. “Because spoiler alert, in the books, Ciri travels between dimensions and between worlds. It’s one of her powers, and she does a little bit of that in the game. So I think it would be a really exciting thing for Witcher 4 to focus on Ciri’s adventures in some way.”

"They kind of set her up for it in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt because you can play as Ciri in certain episodes of the game. So it just feels like if they don’t do that, then I know what The Witcher 5’s going to be about, because it just makes sense. But I have no idea. I have no idea. I’m excited to find out."

At this point, we’re likely still a ways out from playing The Witcher 4. According to IGN, the absolute earliest it could release is 2025, but even that is probably being optimistic. That said, the studio is clearly shifting its focus to the game; following the release of the Cyberpunk 2077 expansion Phantom Liberty, half of CD Projekt Red’s development staff have reportedly shifted to working on the Witcher sequel. We can content ourselves in knowing that a lot of work is being done on the title as we speak.

In the meantime, Andrzej Sapkowski has a new Witcher book coming out in winter 2024/2025, and we’ll be watching more on Netflix. There are plenty of ways to visit the Continent these days!

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