Any fan of the Witcher who has played CD Projekt Red’s games will be familiar with the voice of Doug Cockle. The actor who voiced Geralt of Rivia is definitely a favorite of fans, who so closely associate his voice with that of the character. Cockle has now offered his support for the decision to cast Henry Cavill in the role of Geralt in the upcoming Witcher Netflix series.

Praise for the Casting of Henry Cavill in the Witcher Netflix Series

Doug Cockle was recently interviewed by the BBC’s Newsbeat, and voiced his wholehearted support of the decision. “I think he’s going to be great,” says Cockle; “he’s going to have a blast!” Some fans will no doubt struggle to see anybody else in the role; Cockle’s voice has become synonymous with the character for anyone who has played the Witcher games. Of course, the upcoming series is based upon the original Witcher novels by Andrzej Sapkowski, not the games.

“It’s not just about Henry Cavill,” continues Cockle; “it’s about their love for a character and a world. If they’ve read the books and played the games, they’ll have a very specific idea of what this world is. Nobody likes change, and the reality is this is going to be a different Witcher. It’ll have visual differences, it’ll have behavioural differences, but it’s going to be awesome”. Certainly, showrunner Lauren Hissrich has gone above and beyond to try and win over fans early. She has kept fans in the loop as the series goes through pre-production, offering regular Tweet updates. Indeed, fans have heard many more updates than they would normally get from a series like this.

Performance and Casting

“I hope he doesn’t recreate my performance, actually,” says Cockle; “Partly because if he tries to recreate my vocal performance, he won’t be being true to the Geralt that he needs to create. It sounds airy fairy and wishy washy, but as an actor you have to find the aspects of the character within yourself. That’s how you find the truth of the character for your own performance.”

Posed a few alternative suggestions for the casting by Newsbeat, Cockle dismissed some and asserted that Cavill was a great choice. Although he did like the idea of casting Mads Mikkelsen for the role, he said; “we needed the Mads Mikkelsen of 20 years ago… [Henry Cavill is] already fit. He’s got the body for it. The youth to do many of the stunts. If we all just give him the space to do his thing and give that team our support, they’re going to come up with something awesome that we’ll go, ‘this is different – but you know what? It’s cool!'”