CD Projekt Red Will Use AI to Bring Back Geralt’s Original Voice

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Published Nov 12, 2026, 6:38 AM EST

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Geralt will sound the same 12 years later

In 2019, Jacek Rozenek, the Polish voice actor for Geralt of Rivia in The Witcher games, suffered a stroke that greatly affected his speech. He underwent extensive training to recuperate and regain his ability to act. However, the changes in his voice were still noticeable. To keep the same voice actor in the upcoming DLC Songs of the Past, CD Projekt Red decided to use AI to match his current voice to the original and create the best possible replica.

If you played the English version of The Witcher 3, Doug Cockle will immediately spring to mind when you think of Geralt of Rivia. However, in the game's original version, Geralt is played by Jacek Rozenek, a renowned voice actor with 30 years of experience. CD Projekt has hired Rozenek to play Geralt of Rivia since the original The Witcher game in 2007, and the Polish studio wants him to continue in the role for Songs of the Past. Unfortunately, the actor suffered a stroke in 2019, that, according to Game File, left him unable to speak for months.

AI helps original Polish voice actor play Geralt in The Witcher 3 again

After extensive rehabilitation, Rozenek was able to speak again, but his voice was not the same. Stephen Totilo wrote, "it was lower, gruffer," after an interview with the actor. CDPR concluded that while this voice change might work well for an older Geralt in The Witcher 4, it wouldn't blend well with the voice you hear in The Witcher 3. Coming out next year, the Songs of the Past DLC is set in the same era as the main game, and the two are closely connected. This means that fans will hear newly recorded lines and older lines in close succession. To solve this problem, CDPR is working with AI voice cloning company Respeecher.

Respeecher will analyze the 10,000 voice lines recorded for The Witcher 3's base game. It's important to specify that Rozenek will still record all of the lines for Songs of Past, and AI technology will make the changes required to match his original voice. The actor feels very confident in his ability to continue playing Geralt of Rivia and sees this as a good thing. “I can play this role. Of course, it’s very good that this voice will be matched,” he told Game File.

While AI isn't always well received in the world of video games, this might be one of the few cases in which fans will be happy with the developers' decision to use it. Rather than changing voice actors or modifying Geralt's voice altogether, the team found a solution that works for them as well as the original actor. CDPR Localization producer, Mikołaj Szwed, believes that “this is one of those ways where you can use AI ethically, with consent and also to do something good.”

CDPR went from a small Polish studio to a global powerhouse producing games loved by millions of people. Still, the studio cleary does not forget about its origins and its first fans in Poland, who helped CDPR make it to where they are now. With Rozenek's extensive training and rehabilitation, plus the AI assistance, Geralt's voice will sound as close as possible to what it did when The Witcher launched almost twenty years ago.

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