Dave Bautista will play Kratos in Prime Video's live-action God of War series, replacing Ryan Hurst, Variety reported. The deal closes a recast that began in June, when an on-set injury led Amazon MGM Studios and Sony Pictures Television to look for a new lead.
Deadline first reported earlier this month that the former WWE wrestler was in talks for the role. According to Variety, those negotiations have now concluded.
Hurst was announced as Kratos in January and filming started in Vancouver in February, Polygon reported. In late June he tore a bicep performing a stunt and required surgery. Video Games Chronicle reported that recovering from a bicep tear can take up to a year, which would have kept the production shut down into 2027; rather than wait, the studios recast the part.
What has to be reshot
Several episodes had already been filmed before the injury. Video Games Chronicle put the figure at four and reported that the scenes featuring Kratos will have to be shot again with Bautista. Dot Esports reported that Amazon has ordered two seasons to be filmed back to back. The sources differ on the restart: Polygon reported that production is targeting mid-October, while Dot Esports, citing Variety, said filming is expected to resume in the coming weeks.
The first season adapts Santa Monica Studio's 2018 God of War rather than the earlier Greek games, following Kratos and his son Atreus as they travel to scatter the ashes of Kratos' wife, Faye. Callum Vinson plays Atreus, with Mandy Patinkin as Odin, Olafur Darri Olafsson as Thor, Max Parker as Heimdall, Teresa Palmer as Sif and Ed Skrein as Baldur. Alastair Duncan reprises his video game role as Mimir, and Danny Woodburn and Jeff Gulka play the dwarven brothers Brok and Sindri.
More recasting ahead
A second round of casting changes is planned rather than forced. Casting calls spotted for season two, which adapts God of War Ragnarok and the time jump that follows the 2018 game, seek actors aged 14 to 17 for Atreus and Thrud, where the first season's calls asked for actors aged nine to 12. Callum Vinson and Island Austin remain in those roles for season one.
Bautista spent more than a decade in WWE before moving into film and is best known as Drax in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy movies. His other credits include Dune, Blade Runner 2049, Spectre and Army of the Dead, and he recently finished shooting a Highlander reboot. Hurst, who played Thor in God of War Ragnarok, had posted a new image of himself in the Kratos costume the week before the recast was confirmed.
The series still has no premiere date. Polygon reported that the production restart makes a 2027 launch increasingly unlikely, with 2028 a more realistic possibility.
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