The casting of Kratos for Amazon’s God of War TV show has been a roller coaster ride. With the adaptation suddenly swapping from Ryan Hurst to Dave Bautista for the lead role, it’s understandable that fans would wonder why Christopher Judge, who plays Kratos in the modern games, seemingly isn’t playing the character in the show.
“With Ryan, I thought that was absolutely the right choice. He’s played all the games,” Judge told Collider during a recent Fan Expo Canada panel. “He’s a gamer and new father; like, who better? Then when he got hurt, it was like, are they going to take time to read with and call people back? So when I heard the name of Bautista, I thought, ‘Didn’t he just lose like 100 pounds?’ So I hope he’s going to be great. I think he’s going to be great. I just hope it doesn’t cause any health issues to put back on all that weight.”
The co-star of Stargate SG-1 went on to explain that, being in his early 60s, the physical tax involved in portraying a literal god in live action isn’t something he wants to contend with. “I didn’t want to do it,” Judge said. “I didn’t want to, at 62 years old, work 16-to-18-hour days. I didn’t want to be dieting constantly; I didn’t want to be working out constantly.” He briefly changed his mind when talking to his grandson and began working out and reading for the role, but eventually pulled out of the running.
Judge continued, “We had talked, and I thought, ‘God, what a great legacy to leave for my grandson.’ So I started working out. I got bigger. Then, just the reality of it…because I did read! I did read for it. It was so hard for me to memorize my lines, which I never had a problem with. And that was my mind and body starting to tell me, ‘You don’t want to do this.’ I was one of the leads of Stargate at 33 to 44 and then stopped. Now, at 62, to be the lead, I just have no desire to live that way again.”
Fortunately for players, that doesn’t apply to video games. Sony Santa Monica already revealed that while God of War Laufey isn’t starring Kratos, another sequel already in development will bring the titular character back into the spotlight, and seemingly Judge along with it. In the meantime, the God of War TV show will have to begin reshooting the episodes that were already finished with Bautista taking Hurst’s place, so who knows how long it will be until the series actually begins to air.