RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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The rumors were true. Dave Bautista has been officially confirmed to be taking over the role of Kratos in Amazon's upcoming God of War TV series. Replacing the injured Ryan Hurst, Variety says the ex-wrestler will soon be heading to Vancouver with filming resuming in a few weeks.
God of War has had something of a troubled journey toward our small screens. Firstly the reveal of Ryan Hurst as Kratos was met with derision due to his rather diminutive appearance, then in July the actor was injured performing a stunt so seriously that he needed to be recast . Given filming had already begun, that was quite the calamity, although one that inadvertently fixed the initial issue. But earlier this month came a sudden change of heart from the mocking crowds after Hurst posted a photo of himself looking particularly ripped, causing everyone to decide that he should have been allowed to play the role. Except, he tore his bicep so can't. And also, honestly, the only difference I can see between the two pictures is that Hurts is looking upward in the new one. God you're a fickle bunch.
Now, confirming earlier rumors , it's been officially announced that former WWE star and Guardians of the Galaxy actor Dave Bautista is taking over the role. This means the production will now need to reshoot all of Kratos's scenes from the first four episodes that had already been filmed, as well as the rest of the season.
It's fair to say that Bautista is, physically at least, a more natural fit for the role, although many are noting that he's significantly slimmed down of late. Someone fetch that man pies. Whether he has the acting chops required is the larger question, although the wrestler certainly surprised many with his stand-out role as Drax in the Guardians of the Galaxy series (even if the writers forgot how to write him in the third entry). And, in fairness, the role of Kratos mostly involves looking annoyed and growling the word "Boy," so perhaps it won't prove too taxing.
As some have pointed out, the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special features a scene in which a tourist refers to Drax as "the god of war," which is pleasing foreshadowing.
Funny that GOTG holiday special foreshadows him as Kratos pic.twitter.com/VJ4nBqMMRf
— Elijah ✝️ 🎥 (@BroiElijah) August 21, 2026
Others have somewhat more cruelly compared the recasting to the fixing Sonic with teeth situation:
This casting is going to pay off like when they redid Sonic pic.twitter.com/XBHhwoDHRP
— Ryan 'All Day News' Anderson (@Ryans_Ramblings) August 21, 2026
The God of War series is being written by Battlestar Galactica 's Ronald D. Moore, who more recently has had another smash hit with For All Mankind , so this bodes well. Given the delays, there's little chance we'll be seeing the show appear on Amazon Prime much before the holidays 2027.
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