Dave Bautista has been the rumoured replacement for Kratos in Amazon’s God of War series for a few weeks now. It started after we got the very unfortunate news that the previous lead, Ryan Hurst, would be stepping down from the role due to a torn bicep which needs surgery and therefore rules him out of filming.
But now we know for sure that Bautista really is going to be the new Kratos thanks to a report from Variety. I’m not saying that Bautista was the only option, but as Deadline pointed out, Hurst “underwent a physical transformation”, managing to put on 40 pounds of muscle for the role of Kratos, and there are few in Hollywood who can just turn up to a role which demands that kind of physical presence with little prep.
That doesn’t mean, however, it’s smooth sailing from here. The show reportedly started shooting back in February this year and while filming is expected to carry on in Vancouver the production will now have to do all of Kratos’ scenes again, with Bautista as the lead.
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The show is set to follow the story from the God of War 2018 game, where Kratos and his young son Atreus travel through Midgard, fighting plenty of gods along the way, to scatter their wife and mother’s ashes, and God of War: Ragnarök. The second season will likely pick up on Ragnarök’s story, in which Kratos and Atreus renew their rocky relationship and prepare for the end of the world.
There aren’t any other reported recastings for the first season, but with the likely timeskip after the first season, word is out that the series is looking for older actors for the roles of Atreus and Thrud. It may seem premature but as filming for season 2 is apparently going to start as soon as production on the first season wraps, the team will have to iron these changes out quickly to prevent any further delays to filming.