Amazon's God of War TV Series Casts Its Kratos, Story Setup Revealed

It does feel a bit sus that they have 2 black voice actors as Kratos, and a black body model as Kratos, but they go with a white dude for the Bezos funded show. He’s just as Spartan as Shad Gaspard was.

Hmmm, wouldn’t have been my pick but… I was pretty stumped tbh. Weird that they cast God of War’s Thor as Kratos… didn’t see that coming.

We shall see how this goes👀

Very strange casting choice imo

I love Kratos' beard in that image. Looks like plastic on an action figure.

@nessisonett in fairness the Greek/Spartan heritage isn’t black. They may have had black voice actors do the do for the games but that never meant Kratos was Black… or White for that matter. If we’re being culturally accurate, he should be Mediterranean ie olive-skinned, dark hair and brown eyes.

The new games are good and all but skipping over the Greek Arc entirely kinda annoys me.

I'm sure there will be references to it and maybe some flashbacks but damn, those games had a scale of epicness to them the Norse games certainly didn't have.

Idk who could pull it off but can you imagine the opening to GoW3 in live action? That'd be insanity lol

Are you big and beardy?

✔️

Then welcome aboard!

It will be mediocre and won't have the spectacle of games anyway. So I don't care a lot.

Fortunately they decided to cancel Horizon tv series and doing it a blockbuster as it should be.

Not who i expected but i'm happy with his casting.

I'm not familiar with the actor works beside he's Thor VA (and mocap?) in GoW Ragnarok. But it's kinda funny and also interesting to cast actor from the game who did Thor but as Kratos in live action.

Curious how he gonna looks after he shave his head, pale skin paint, and the red tattoo.

Oh for f**ks sake.
Why ignore the original story line, and jump to the reboot? We all know how this will go, as there will be the typical tv show "soap opera" crap, between father and son. There will be 50 minutes of drama and then something spectacular finally happen, in the last 2-3 minutes, leaving us with a cliffhanger, that will quickly be solved in the opening 3 minutes of the next episode. Rinse and repeat.
This needed to be a big budget blockbuster movie, where they have the budget to really deliver the goods....

As a Swede, I'm so damn tired of the north mythology being milked over and over again.
The Ancient Greece setting, would have made it much more epic.

Ryan Hurst is a great choice for Kratos. He can play the big tough guy while also showing emotion during softer moments.

Just watch him as Opie in Sons of Anarchy. He was one of the best parts of that show which is considered one of the best biker/action crime shows of the mid 2000's. Charlie Hunnam was the lead in the show as well.

Ryan can definitely handle Kratos and this might be his breakout performance to be honest. He's also in the Odyssey(which has everyone in it lol).

@AdamNovice Some "fan" you turn out to be. Have you not even played those games?

@nessisonett Well Kratos isn't black even before the ash was applied to his skin. Its also most likely easier applying the white make up to a white actor as well without it looking odd.

@Exerion76 Reboot? The Norse games are sequels not reboots. Also Greek Kratos would never work outside of the games without changing him massively.

If they’re doing 2 seasons to match up 1 to each game then call me when the 2nd season airs.

Opie was the best character in SoA and everyone is in the Odyssey, just like @QBgaming12 said. 👍

I think he's a good choice. I don't really see the point in making a big deal about whether he's white or black considering you never actually see the color of the body model's skin, nor is the character black.

What should matter is whether the actor chosen will do a good job, and from what I've seen of his work (plus his work as Thor), I think he will.

@Fizza @nessisonett So what's your opinion on the little mermaid live action casting? Did that feel sus or sit right?

Ohhh ok ok ok. I’m into this choice!

Im absolutely onboard with this. Anyone unsure should check him in sons of anarchy. Man will definitely carry himself well as kratos

Regardless of who plays him, the character of Kratos is going to need fleshing out a bit. He was hard work after a while (sorry Kratos fans)

@graymamba This guy is just as ethnically Greek as African Americans are. As in he isn’t Greek. It’s a weird choice, Kratos has literally only been portrayed by a black man.

@Gunbeld Didn’t watch it. Looked rubbish and devoid of creativity like literally all other Disney live action remakes. Plus that was years ago, who gives a crap?

@nessisonett I get where you're coming from, but casting a black actor just to cover him in white body paint is a minefield I don't think anyone wants to step in.

This role was going to be whitewashed one way or another. At least this choice has some reasoning behind it.

@nessisonett I never said that he was. You misinterpret my pushing-back against your stance as standing-up for the casting… which I wasn’t. Try reading what people actually write instead of interpreting it to fit your own narrative… could change your life.

I was hoping that Adam Sandler would be casted for Kratos

Genuinely really funny they used an action figure of Kratos for this reveal instead of a really nice render.

You seem like a calm and reasonable person are you a calm and reasonable person

Hes a decent actor everything i seen him in he does a good performance

@nessisonett Well since it's just a fictional character from a video game it shouldn't really matter should it? I just think it's weird that you think it is sus. He looks the part and he's a good actor and you're sounding a bit self-righteous to me. Did you whinge about Leonidas in 300 as well?

@nessisonett not as suss as a Jamaican Anne boleyn or an Indian isaac newton though

@Gunbeld Yes, Gerard Butler can’t act.

@Exerion76 It's painfully obvious you didn't play gow 2018 lol

@nessisonett yes, because Kratos is the blackest character ever.

Interesting we will see how it goes.word up son

I was hoping for Danny DeVito. KraVitos would have been an epic choice for the ages.

@babek still a chance he'll play mimir lol

@nessisonett I didn't know Kratos has black origin.

@nessisonett Well I can't disagree with that lol and nobody should disagree with this casting either unless the same energy is kept.

@nessisonett stretching the word portrayed a bit there. He has only ever been voiced by a black man, but has always been portrayed as a Mediterranean man covered in ashes

Love this pick! Feels weird to see Thor play Kratos though. Can’t beat’em, be’em lol.

@yohn777
I played and finished both the 2018 game and Ragnarök.

@DennisReynolds
There is a reason why it's not called God of War 4, as It's considered a Soft reboot, continuing the story, but having massive changes to the gameplay.

I had a bit of cautious and nervous optimism about this, but it’s such a great choice, Hirst is fantastic. The decision to set it in the 2918 games was probably the easiest decision to make, the original games were pretty bad and cheesy as a setting. Hope they nail the rest of the casting, can wait to see who plays the severed head!

I'm still waiting for someone to add the white ashes.

Lol the guy that plays Thor in the game will play Kratos. 🤣

@Exerion76 I guess Avengers Infinity War isn't a sequel then as its not called Avengers 3.

God Of War 2018 is a sequel and both games explicitly reference the Greek games. In fact without the Greek games Kratos arc wouldn't work.

“Well he’s not 8’ tall so it won’t work and the show is doomed.”

-Colin Moriarty (probably)

@DennisReynolds
No use to try to explain this anymore. You obviously don't understand what a soft reboot is. Google it.

It will be epic! Finally a good choice of actor to play a hole for an adaptation of a game to tv series.

@Llamageddon Shad Gaspard was his body model.

@nessisonett Oh bother. So they are all just as Greek as the other person

I didn't have any interest in this but I will probably watch it now. Hurst is a badass choice.

Great choice, he was awesome in sons of anarchy. He's a big, powerful looking guy with a gruff voice, has really good acting range and has been rocking the beard longer than Kratos has.

Think this guy will surprise a few people by how good he can be in this role. I just hope he can bulk up enough because that is going to be some challenge (and would be for any actor).

Not worried about this casting at all. What does worry me though is finding an actor that can do Atreus justice. Finding a young, athletic kid that can portray innocence, naivety and hope whilst also being a bit of a psychopath isn't going to be easy.

I'm smiling because you are crying 😂

@nessisonett Kratos is an original character, designed by Charlie Wen. Voice and performance actors where chosen for characteristics they wanted in the character. TC Carson, Brandon Molale and Joseph Gatt suited the original games. Christopher Judge and Shad Gaspard where chosen for the more grounded Kratos in the Norse era. No actor owns the character, or has any bearing on his explicitly Spartan ancestry.

@TheGreyandTheRed Agreed, he was really good in SoA. Kid actors are always a wildcard, and this isn't an easy casting.

Pft, he doesn't have the deep voice, he was out of place even for Thor in GoWR...
On top of that, he's not even a gamer... Doesn't stop him from playing a good role, of course, but it certainly doesn't help...

What a brilliant choice Opie was my fave character on Sons

@QBGaming12 Opie was brilliant I started to get bored after Season 5 it started to drag on quite a lot did Sons. I mean I fully watched it but it felt like it should have ended 2 season earlier

@nessisonett there is nothing sus about it kratos isnt black. Netflix isnt making this

@nessisonett Now there's something I was completely unaware of. I had no idea Shad Gaspard was scanned to be used as Kratos. RIP to the poor fella but at least his kid who he saved can always say his dad is the god of war!

@nessisonett fair enough, still doesn't change his canonical background though.
Hardly the first time this kind of thing has happened, Darth Vader was voiced by James earl Jones, but the body double and actor (the actor looking nothing like the body double) were both white.
I just hope this guy does a good job to be honest

@themightyant wasn't an issue when Downey junior played a black guy

I don't have a horse in this race, but seems like an ok casting choice, to me. Even Chris Judge gave his blessing, so haters should probably stand down until they actually have a performance to critique.

I like this casting but apparently the show will be based on the Nordic inspired newer games and not the Greek original ones. Why not have Ryan as Thor then?

Plus keep in mind this guy is about 6’5” tall. That’s a BIG Kratos. I know they’ll likely use cgi for the villains but I hope they cast some big guys for the gods too

@Nakatomi_Uk yeah I had the same issue. Also the problem with Sons was the ending was so obvious after the first episode/first few episodes, they just dragged it out wayyyyy too long.

@nessisonett how ridiculous , the character is not a black man , there are many incredible black voice actors who perform a wide range of ethnic characters , genya from demon slayer for example is voiced by a black actor , would you get some uppity if they made a live action version of that, and didn't cast a black man , youre looking for controversy where none exists, im sure if Christopher judge was a little younger he could've been cast as kratos , and fans would've embraced him regardless of colour , why cant you do the same for this guy , if someone did the same but in reverse, youd be choking on the R word.

@nessisonett I believe that Shad Gaspard did the motion capture for Kratos in the games, but wasn't actually the body model. Kratos's face doesn't look anything like Shad, so I imagine they used him because of his body type and movement, rather than any cultural reason. We're all talking about a fictional Greek god, so I don't much care what ethnicity the actor is. It's true that cultural accuracy certainly hasn't been a priority for Hollywood historically, but I don't know if there's any real reason that Kratos must be black. Would it have been a nice nod to the legacy of the character? Sure. But if Chris Judge has given the "ok," that's good enough for me.

Chris Tucker as Atreus please.

I liked their choice. He should be darker, as Greek had olive skin, but as Kratos has a layer of ash on his skin, it will be easier to make Ryan Hurst look dark-toned but grey like him. Much better choice than Prime's Tomb Raider.