Update: CD Projekt have confirmed to RPS that it was Richard Hawley who played the merchant, whose name is Frewin, in The Witcher 4’s tech demo. “As for the full game,” they added, “we don’t have anything to share about any voice actors beyond the ones we’ve already confirmed.”
Original story continues below:
Witcher fans have naturally been busy poring over The Witcher 4’s tech demo in search of interesting details beyond the big obvious teases. One group on Reddit reckon their ears picked up the voice of Witcher 3 actor Richard Hawley.
Hawley voiced a few characters in Gerry from the Riviera’s RPG clash with the Wild Hunt, with Caleb Menge, Francis Bedlam, and Redanian schemer Sigismund Dijkstra all boasting his dulcet tones. It’s that last one that’ll likely have lodged the actor’s voice into your brain.
It’s also the name that some Witcher fans on Reddit have admitted they shouted at the screen when Ciri chats to a bearded merchant about her current monster contract at around the ten minute mark, after taking a walk through Valdrest. I’ve taken a listen to both the merchant and Dijikstra, and the two do sound a bit alike to me, especially when the merchant says certain phrases. I’ve also reached out to CD Projekt for confirmation.
As some of the fans in the Reddit thread have pointed out, if this is indeed Hawley, he’d be an interestingly fitting inclusion in this particular tech demo. In addition to those characters he voiced in The Witcher 3, Hawley also voiced a number in The Witcher 2. One of these is Carduin of Lan Exeter, a Koviri mage Geralt meets during the summit at Loc Muinne.
As you might have guessed from his name, this wizard is from the city that CD Projekt ended TW4’s tech demo by teasing via a shot of Ciri looking out at it nestled in the distance. Spoilers for The Witcher 3 and The Witcher 2 incoming, so skip the next couple of paragraphs if you want to miss them.
Carduin’s exact fate in the series so far is influenced by the choices you made at the conclusion of The Witcher 2, but it is possible to run into him in The Witcher 3 depending on what you picked.
If you do, he’ll be in Oxenfurt serving alongside Radovid of Redania, as a result of needing to avoid being burned at the stake, and to my knowledge isn’t confirmed as being killed alongside the ruler if you choose to aid in Radovid’s assassination. So, it seems possible he could show up in The Witcher 4, especially if the game’s story involves matters affecting Koviri politics or involving magic in the region, which seems a good shout if it’s more than a brief stop in whatever journey Ciri’s on. I’d certainly be up for it, even if just to potentially see Esterad Thyssen in non-Gwent card form.
As it is, TW3 and TW2 had Hawley voicing multiple characters – ones who were all key figures in Novigrad in the case of the latter. If this tech demo merchant is played by him and ends up being in the final game, I’d wager there’s a good chance it’ll just be one of the times you hear his voice. For now, though, all any of us outside of CD Projekt can do is speculate.
