Geralt Actor Dismisses 'Woke' Label for Ciri-Led Witcher 4

Doug Cockle, the voice of Geralt, has responded to criticism over The Witcher 4 centering on Ciri — urging self-proclaimed fans of the franchise to “read the damn books.”

“That’s just stupid,” Cockle said of the backlash against CD Projekt’s next The Witcher RPG, which has drawn heat for making Ciri its protagonist for the first time.

“It’s not woke,” he added during a video published by Fall Damage. “There’s nothing woke about it. [Ciri] is a compelling character from The Witcher, and they’re choosing to focus on her — and that’s awesome.”

Still, even with Geralt set to appear in some capacity in The Witcher 4, last year’s announcement that his adoptive daughter would take center stage — and likely lead the next trilogy — triggered a predictable wave of online complaints about the series going “woke.”

“We can’t keep giving Geralt every single game forever,” Cockle continued, explaining why his character deserves a break. “We’ve seen the end of Geralt’s journey. Blood and Wine was meant to close that chapter.”

“I celebrate Ciri. I celebrate her as the protagonist. So all you people who think it’s woke… [blows raspberry].”

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Cockle then pointed out that The Witcher 4 features Ciri for a very specific reason — one rooted in the original novel series by Polish fantasy author Andrzej Sapkowski.

“If you’ve read the books, you’ll understand why CD Projekt chose this path,” Cockle said. “There’s a deep, rich world around Ciri that they couldn’t fully explore in Witcher 3 because the story was about Geralt. But she hinted at it.”

“If you think it’s woke, read the damn books — they’re great, first off. And second, you won’t see it as woke anymore.”

CD Projekt’s games take place loosely after the end of Sapkowski’s novels, though Sapkowski has consistently separated his own concluding narrative — and the definitive fates he gave his characters — from the video games that extend Geralt’s story beyond that point.

Without spoiling plot points from the final novel that may appear in The Witcher 4, it’s clear that Sapkowski, like CD Projekt, viewed Ciri as a crucial character — one ready to step into the spotlight when Geralt needs to step aside.