Ryan Hurst of Sons of Anarchy and Remember the Titans will not be our live-action Kratos after all. The God of War TV show actor reportedly suffered a major injury while performing a stunt during filming and is now being recast to avoid further delays to Amazon’s adaptation of the hit PlayStation series. The news comes less than six months after an early still image from the set featuring Hurst became a widely mocked internet meme.
TMZ reports that Hurst suffered a bicep tear during filming that put him in the hospital for recovery. According to Deadline, the injury was set to put Hurst out of commission for up to six months, which would have delayed the show beyond what Amazon was willing to tolerate. Filming reportedly wouldn’t have been able to resume until 2027. The show, helmed by Battlestar Galactica‘s Ronald D. Moore, will instead recast Hurst in order to move forward with the production as soon as possible.
Hurst had reportedly put on “40 lbs of muscle” for the physically demanding role and filmed scenes for more than four episodes. All of that will now have to be reshot with whoever takes over the role of Kratos.
Hurst caught a lot of flak for being cast as Kratos in the live-action adaptation in the first place. Christopher Judge came to redefine the role with his performances in God of War (2018) and God of War: Ragnarök. Hurst didn’t immediately scan as having the same level of gravitas for a role that would seemingly reprise the major plot beats of the existing PlayStation games. It didn’t help when he appeared in full costume and makeup for a set photo that was released back in February. It immediately became a laughing stock.
Sony has been hoping to repeat the success of HBO’s The Last of Us, but has been slow to get adaptations of its other major franchises (besides Twisted Metal) off the ground. The God of War TV show was first teased back in 2022. The project then underwent a reboot in 2024, changing showrunners and scripts. Two years later, the first season was finally getting close before this latest snag.