The first new character in The Witcher 4 appears to have been accidentally revealed by its actor, although it tells us next to nothing about the game itself.
Over the weekend, Reddit user KekanKok discovered that the entry for actor Jake Lampert on Spotlight, a UK casting website, featured an entry for a role on The Witcher 4, under its Polaris codename. Pointing to the 2025 placeholder date that CD Projekt Red is currently using, Lampert's entry says that he's playing a character named Branko.
Beyond the entry's statement that he was directed by Kate Saxon, who did mocap direction for The Witcher 2 and The Witcher 3 as well as several other video game projects, we've got next to nothing to go on about Branko. A little extra research suggests that it's a common name in Croatia and Serbia, but given the Witcher series' slavic origins, that's no huge surprise. It could mean that we're going a little further afield that CD Projekt's native Poland, but the series' inspirations have long-since ranged further than a single country.
While Branko gives me the sense of the most generic Witcher NPC imaginable, he's notable as only the second character to actually be confirmed for the The Witcher 4. Geralt actor Doug Cockle says that he'll be "a part" of The Witcher 4, even if he's not the "focus" of the game, but beyond that we know next to nothing about the story or characters that will feature in the RPG. Popular odds suggest we'll be focusing on Ciri, and the mysterious Lynx medallion that marks pretty much the only concrete information we have about the game might offer another clue, but for now, it's looking like Branko and Geralt all the way.
Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
I'm GamesRadar's news editor, working with the team to deliver breaking news from across the industry. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.
The Witcher 3 quest designer behind a hilarious scene only accessible with mods is "glad to see it was found," even if it "took you a while"
The Witcher's original Geralt actor is "really sad to see" Henry Cavill leave the Netflix show, but he's "excited" to see what Liam Hemsworth brings to the table