Geralt’s Voice in The Witcher Was Recorded in Just 8 Days as Actor Struggled With Losing His Voice and Relied on Tea

Doug Cockle, the English-language voice actor for Geralt in The Witcher, recently shared memories of the job. In a conversation with Gameology, he said the lines were recorded very quickly. Even so, he managed to give the character a voice that many players appreciated.

When Cockle went to audition for the role, he met a developer from CD Projekt RED who described Geralt to him. At the time, Andrzej Sapkowski’s books had not yet been translated into English, so the actor had no chance to read them while preparing. He still agreed to take the job, because the concept of a new fantasy world appealed to him. Cockle is a fan of The Lord of the Rings, as well as The Hobbit, Conan, and The Dragonriders of Pern.

Cockle decided to give Geralt a raspy voice, which later became a problem. After 6-7 hours of recording in that style, his voice began to give out. He had to drink tea, which became a real lifesaver for him.

In total, Cockle needed 8 days to record Geralt’s lines:

I think at first we recorded lines for five days in a row. The voice was very low, at the limit of my range. And by the end of a long recording day, we recorded for 6-7 hours a day, my voice was just shot. So I would go back to my hotel room and spend the whole night just sipping mint tea, or tea with lemon and ginger, which are my two favorites. And the next day I would come back in and do the same thing all over again. And then the game came out, and people liked it.

Geralt in The Witcher was voiced in just 8 days, as the actor's voice kept giving out and tea became his lifesaver — Image source: CD Projekt RED // Xanax

CD Projekt RED is currently developing a story expansion for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which it hopes to release next year. The full-fledged new entry in the franchise, The Witcher 4, may launch in 2028, with Ciri in the lead role.

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