First reported by TheGamer, CD Projekt has confirmed that Ciri has been recast for The Witcher 4, with original actor Jo Wyatt replaced with newcomer Ciara Berkeley. This shakeup for the game's lead stands in contrast with Doug Cockle's return as Geralt in a supporting role.
I thought I clocked something unfamiliar about Ciri's voice in The Witcher 4's reveal trailer, but I figured it could have been the literal passage of 10 years, a deliberate attempt at a more gruff, mature delivery, or a combination of the two. Now we know, and CDPR provided a statement to TheGamer on the decision to recast Ciri.
"Ciara Berkeley was cast as Ciri for The Witcher 4 Cinematic Reveal Trailer," a CDPR rep said, though the company later clarified that this casting is for the full game as well. "Ciara is a talented actress who impressed us with her enthusiasm and vocal acting skills, and in this trailer we believe she truly brought Ciri to life in a way that is both faithful to the character and exciting for fans of the series."
There are a number of potential factors that might have gone into the decision, including contract negotiations, scheduling, and Berkeley just really nailing her audition for the role. We don't have a lot of material to base our judgements on, but I enjoyed Berkeley's delivery in the reveal trailer—I was sold that this is an older, more hard-bitten Ciri who's been on The Path for some time.
I was surprised to learn that, at least according to IMDB, this will be Berkeley's first voice acting role, and she's starting in the proverbial deep end as the main character in a god-knows-how-long monster RPG. Wyatt, for her part, has had an extensive career as a voice actor, including voicing female Hawke in Dragon Age 2.
This is far from the most shocking high-profile videogame recast I've seen—that title still goes to Kiefer Sutherland taking over from David Hayter as Snake in Metal Gear Solid 5. I've always thought Sutherland turned in a great performance as the unnervingly—but arguably fittingly—laconic Venom Snake, but David Hayter is Snake, at least for English language audiences. And lest we forget, the great Charles Martinet has hung up his spurs and passed his Mario (and Luigi, and Wario, and Waluigi) cap to a younger generation.
