Summary
- The Witcher franchise has faced criticism and disappointment from fans, but the upcoming animated movie, Sirens of the Deep, aims to rebuild respect.
- The film brings back Doug Cockle, the popular voice actor of Geralt from the video games, to lend his signature tone to the character.
- Sirens of the Deep is connected to the main show’s timeline and will take place between Episodes 5 and 6 of the first season, surprising many fans expecting a standalone project.
Netflix’s The Witcher franchise is kind of a mess right now. Season 3, released earlier this year, saw Henry Cavill say goodbye to the silver sword and white-haired wig, upsetting thousands of fans. The spin-off/prequel series Blood Origins was met with lackluster reviews from critics and fans, with both parties agreeing that it was an unnecessary backstory to an already lore-rich universe. Add to that the numerous changes to Andrzej Sapkowski’s source material, which had ired fans from the show’s premiere back in 2019, and The Witcher franchise has been far from the Stranger Things success emulator that Netflix intended.
However, the next entry in the franchise, an animated movie titled The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep, is making a major change in a much-needed attempt to rebuild the respect of long-time fans. As well as moving from live-action to Japanese-inspired animation – a move which worked remarkably well for the previous anime move in the franchise, Nightmare of the Wolf – Sirens of the Deep is making a major change to the appearance and voice of Geralt of Rivia, and it’s heavily inspired by the video games.
The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep Brings Back Geralt’s Original Voice Actor
In an incredibly surprising but greatly welcomed move, The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep is bringing back Geralt’s most popular voice actor, Doug Cockle – who voiced Geralt in all three of CDProjektRed’s acclaimed video games – to lend his gruff tone to the character. In close contention with Peter Kenny, who voiced Geralt in the acclaimed audiobooks, Doug Cockle is often regarded as the definitive voice of Geralt of Rivia.
With a starring role in The Witcher games, which skyrocketed the popularity of the franchise – especially in the case of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which won numerous awards and accolades upon its release in 2015 – Cockle has become synonymous with the character for thousands of fans, with his signature, Americanized gravel tone still ranking as the best performance in the franchise’s history.
The news dropped at Netflix’s recent Geeked Week 2023, along with the first teaser for the animated film. The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep is adapted from the short story ‘A Little Sacrifice,’ found in the second Witcher book, Sword of Destiny, by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski.
The short story sees Geralt, with Jaskier (Dandelion) tagging along, contracted by a local lord to track down and return a mermaid he has fallen madly in love with. Considering that Sirens of the Deep is a feature-length animated film, the plot will likely be significantly expanded, with other popular characters from Netflix’s adaptation expected to be mixed in.
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Alongside Cockle returning to the character, Sirens of the Deep will also see live-action Witcher stars Anya Chalotra (Yennefer) and Joey Batey (Jaskier) lend their voices to their respective characters. Doug Cockle’s return to the character will make him the third of a scheduled four actors to voice Geralt in Netflix’s franchise.
Henry Cavill first took on the task when the franchise began in 2019 and quickly made the role his own, building an incredibly loyal fan base in the process. Harry Hisrich then voiced a young Geralt in the animated Nightmare of the Wolf film. Now, Cockle is, figuratively, donning the two swords for the upcoming Sirens of the Deep. The fourth comes by way of Liam Hemsworth, who is replacing Henry Cavill in future seasons of the live-action series after Cavill departed from The Witcher for unannounced reasons.
While he is primarily known for his work as Geralt in all three of CDProjektRed’s Witcher games and the Gwent spin-off game, Cockle has lent his voice to some of the most popular video game franchises. His first voice-acting role was in the cult-classic video game RuneScape in 2001. Since then, Cockle has featured in hit franchises like Smite, The Division, Alan Wake, and Baldur’s Gate.
Sirens of the Deep Is Connected to Netflix’s Witcher Franchise
The Witcher
- Release Date
- December 20, 2019
- Cast
- Henry Cavill, Freya Allan, Anya Chalotra, Mimi Ndiweni, Eamon Farren, Liam Hemsworth
- Main Genre
- Drama
- Rating
- TV-MA
- Seasons
- 3
Despite the change in voice actors and Geralt’s design being swapped for a look closely resembling his video-game counterpart, Sirens of the Deep is a part of Netflix’s The Witcher timeline. At Geeked Week, it was announced that Sirens of the Deep will occur between Episodes 5 and 6 of the main show’s first season. This decision shocked many in the fan base, as it was expected that the animated film would be a standalone project, considering the drastic changes to Geralt.
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For those who haven’t re-watched The Witcher since Henry Cavill’s departure was announced, Episode 5 saw Jaskier (Joey Batey) lose his voice as a result of a Djinn’s magic, leading to Geralt meeting Yennefer of Vengerberg and needing her help to save him. Episode 6 then took a sharp jump ahead a few years, as Geralt, Yennefer, and Jaskier were reunited on a hunt for the mythic Golden Dragon.
The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep doesn’t yet have a proper release date. However, the project has been scheduled for sometime in late 2024.
Stream The Witcher on Netflix
