The live-action adaptation of God of War is on the way, but the voice of the iconic god-killer Kratos, Christopher Judge, has a bone to pick with the people behind game adaptations. As the actor explained, he’s annoyed that these projects fail to hire anyone from the source material to work on them, as they tend to ignore the talent behind the success of those games.
“My problem with all game adaptations is you have this pre-existing, successful property, and the first thing you do is not hire anyone associated with it,” Judge said during a Fan Expo panel (via Reddit), using HBO’s The Last of Us as an example. “The Last of Us–loved Pedro [Pascal]–were they better than the game cast? I saw a stage reading they did. It was unreal. I have no idea why you don’t just take that cast, those writers, especially when you’re going to do [episodes] that are shot-for-shot remakes of the game!”
The voice actors of The Last of Us have often been praised for elevating the story with their performances, and it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine Baker playing the live-action version of Joel Miller. Of course, it’s not that easy, as you have various factors to consider, like availability for a shoot and contract negotiations, as well as the fact that Pascal is a bigger star in comparison to Baker–Pascal is a household name who can draw audiences to watch the series based on the recognition factor alone. Baker did appear in the series, making a cameo as a villain named James.
Writing for video games and TV are also two vastly different things, but it wouldn’t hurt to have some of those creatives around to assist with an adaptation in the writer’s room. As Judge explained, if you’re going to adapt games and do “shot-for-shot” remakes of them, hiring the writers behind them would be a smart move. “What are you thinking? These guys have been immersed in this world for 20 years, but someone’s gonna know better?” Judge said about Amazon’s God of War project.
That show ran into trouble recently, as the original actor cast to play Kratos, Ryan Hurst, suffered a bicep tear during filming. Forced to vacate the role, former WWE star Dave Bautista is now rumored to be in talks to replace Hurst, who showed off just how shredded he got to play Kratos.