After 20 years voicing the Witcher's Geralt, Doug Cockle reveals how he almost lost the rolee

‘It's been such a great journey,’ said voice actor Doug Cockle Doug Cockle’s career came “completely out of the blue.” The voice of Geralt in CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher saga trained as an actor primarily for theater, but also took roles in movies and TV series. “Building a career primarily around voicing game characters was something that wasn't even on my radar,” Cockle told Polygon in a video interview. However, that’s exactly what he did starting with 2001’s Independence War 2: Edge of Chaos, his first foray into video game voice acting. Cockle has had many roles in the 25 years since, but none are as renowned as his work as the Witcher Geralt, a character he’s played for about 20 years, and will return to for The Witcher 4. But his time as Geralt hasn’t been perfect. In fact, it was almost cut short a decade and a half ago between the first and second games. “I'm just glad they decided to keep me on the journey because it's been such a great journey.” Cockle’s time as Geralt began with 2007’s The Witcher. He joined CD Projekt Red’s RPG like he would most any other role: with a successful audition. In that audition, he created what would become Geralt’s voice. “He was describe