The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep’s Doug Cockle on “the most important thing” for Geralt actors to take on board

(Image credit: Netflix)

Doug Cockle, who has portrayed Geralt in The Witcher video game series and the upcoming Netflix anime Sirens of the Deep, has revealed his excitement over incoming actor Liam Hemsworth stepping into the well-worn boots of The White Wolf in The Witcher season 4.

“He’s great in all those action films that he’s done, isn’t he? He is wonderful. So I think he’ll bring all that to it,” Cockle tells GamesRadar+ of Hemsworth, who has appeared in the likes of The Expendables and The Hunger Games franchises.

“We’ll see what he brings to the table. He’s a good actor, so I’m really excited to see what he brings.”

Cockle, who is about to mark 20 years of voicing Geralt, is in the dark as much of the rest of us when it comes to Liam Hemsworth’s debut in Netflix’s The Witcher. Yet, his boundless experience means he knows exactly what a good Geralt, new or old, should bring to the table – and it’s something previous incumbent Henry Cavill had in spades.

“I think what Henry and I brought to the role was that slight dour[ness] – I call him a reluctant hero,” Cockle explains.

“It’s that quality I think is most important to bring to the character of Geralt, because that’s what he does. He’s not a bad guy; he’s not necessarily a good guy. He always wants to remain neutral, but he keeps finding himself in these situations where he has to make a decision when faced with a moral dilemma.”

Cockle continues, “Sometimes these decisions turn out okay, sometimes they don’t. So I think that reluctant heroism is the most important quality to bring to the character of Geralt. But that can take many different shapes. Henry’s version of that was different from mine, but very similar.”

Liam Hemsworth took over the role of Geralt from Henry Cavill, who departed The Witcher after three seasons. Hemsworth is set to portray The White Wolf in the final two seasons of The Witcher, with a first look at his take on the character released last year.

Cockle is next set to appear as Geralt in The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep, a standalone animated movie based on Andrzej Sapkowski’s short story A Little Sacrifice and set partway through the events of the first season of Netflix’s The Witcher.

The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep is streaming on Netflix from February 11.