Amazon could be bringing in Guardians Of The Galaxy actor Dave Bautista to replace Ryan Hurst as Kratos in the God Of War show, after the latter’s on-set injury.
Last month, Sons of Anarchy actor Ryan Hurst, who was set to portray Kratos in Amazon’s live action God Of War TV show, was forced to step down after injuring himself on set.
While Hurst had already filmed four episodes of the show, the plan now is for the role of Kratos to be recast and to reshoot all of Hurst’s scenes with the new actor.
At the time, one of the actors we suggested who could take over was Dave Bautista and, funnily enough, that may very well happen, as he’s apparently in talks with Amazon about it.
This is according to a report by Variety and while Amazon representatives declined to comment when asked, the company does already have an established working relationship with Bautista, who has had starring roles in Amazon original movies like The Wrecking Crew, as well as the upcoming Highlander reboot.
Despite not being guaranteed, online chatter about the potential casting appears largely positive, with fans either completely on board or at least receptive to the idea of Bautista as Kratos.
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‘Not sure if this is true but would be a fantastic casting choice,’ says The Serfs on Bluesky.
‘Bautista as Kratos is the most obvious casting move of all-time. The fact you’re even entertaining anyone else is dumb, you got the dude right there man,’ says Hellrazor Ramon.
Clifford Bateau concurs, pointing out that 2022’s The Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special already made a joke where Bautista’s character of Drax is mistaken for ‘the god of war.’
The top reactions to the news on the God Of War subreddit are also in favour of the idea. ‘Dave could do it well, he’s got the size, strength and intensity of Kratos,’ says GameOfEnder6312.
‘Bautista’s a great actor who knows how to give 100% to a role. If he’s our next Kratos, he’s a damn good pick,’ says DivinityPen.
Some like Lord_NOX75 feel bad for Hurst being replaced, but acknowledge that ‘Dave would be awesome, not only he has the build for it but also the acting and emotional range [sic].’
Others admittedly aren’t as enamoured with the idea, but more so out of concern that Bautista would be required to heavily bulk up for the role. He’s dramatically slimmed down since retiring as a professional wrestler and, at 57 years old, some think it may not be healthy for him to put so much muscle back on.
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It’s worth noting that while Bautista hasn’t had any real video game related roles beyond the WWE games, he has expressed repeated interest in starring in a Gears Of War movie and even lent his appearance and voice for an optional skin for Marcus Fenix in Gears 5.
So maybe someone told him he could be in a GOW show and that got him interested. Or, more seriously, the fact that he has Greek heritage may have intrigued him.
As enthusastic as the fans seem, we’re concerned about how Bautista would actually look as Kratos, full make-up and all. What little was shown of Hurst in the role didn’t inspire confidence and was widely mocked for looking like a bad cosplay, but that sort of thing is kind of unavoidable when it comes to live action video game adaptations.
God Of War’s visuals are supposed to be realistic, but Kratos still has a rather exaggerated design and appearance, and Bautista’s voice isn’t going to sound anything like voice actor Christopher Judge.
In the Greek games, Kratos was described as being nearly eight feet tall but he’s since shrunk to six foot four – still huge but not unrealistically so – which developer Santa Monica justified for the sake of realism.
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