Turns out we're not the only ones sad to see Henry Cavill leaving Netflix's The Witcher after season 3. Geralt's videogame counterpart is pretty damn gutted, too.
Doug Cockle appeared on Eurogamer's One-to-One podcast, chatting about his storied voice-acting career and all things The Witcher. Talks eventually turned to what he thought about Cavill departing the show, with Liam Hemsworth set to take his place.
"Well I think it's really sad, and there's a lot of people speculating on the reasons why he's decided to leave," Cockle said. "But for whatever the reason is, I think it's sad because I think Henry… I think he did a fabulous job as Geralt of Rivia." He also said that Cavill invited him to the premiere of the first series, saying that he "never knew what to expect" until he saw his performance.
Cockle also revealed that he had a brief chat with Cavill about Geralt at the premiere, saying they "spent an hour or two chatting about The Witcher world and being Geralt of Rivia." Cockle says that, unfortunately, he has "little memory" of the conversation between the two. "I remember bits and snatches of the conversation but I think I was quite nervous … it was at the premiere afterparty and the vast majority of people there were people involved in the production so they knew each other. It was lovely to be there, absolutely lovely to be there and celebrate, especially seeing what they produced."
Regardless, from what Cockle can remember both he and Cavill shared similar feelings about their white-haired monster hunter. "I do remember we talked about Superman, we talked about Geralt and the Witcher. We had some similar thoughts about Geralt. If I remember correctly he felt the same way I do about him not being an emotionless being, and I think we can see that in his performance."
Though Cockle's saddened by Cavill's departure, he said he's excited to see what Hemsworth brings to the role. "I'm sad to see him go. I wish Liam Hemsworth the very best of fortunes with it," he said. "I am excited to see what he does with it. But I am sad to see Henry go, because Henry, I felt he did a fabulous job."
Cockle joked that Hemsworth was stepping into "Geralt of Rivia-sized shoes. Henry Cavill-sized shoes," adding: "Henry really, really embodied the role of Geralt in a wonderful way. So yeah, I don't envy Liam."
Let's hope this is the only Geralt role change we'll have to deal with for now. Cockle also said nobody's spoken to him about the upcoming Witcher remake yet, and I'm not sure we can collectively handle yet another Geralt switcheroo.
