Dave Bautista, the burly Hollywood actor best known for portraying Drax the Destroyer in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy films, is reportedly in talks to take over the role of Kratos in the God of War live-action series.
Sons of Anarchy actor Ryan Hurst had previously been cast in the role but tore a bicep while on set, meaning he wouldn’t be able to resume his physical role until the injury had healed in four-to-six months’ time. Show owner Amazon decided to recast Kratos as a result.
Variety reported that Bautista was in talks with Amazon about starring in the show. He has already worked with the company on films like The Wrecking Crew and My Spy, and will appear in Road House 2 and Highlander soon, which are also made by Amazon. There is, then, an established relationship there.
But that’s not all the casting news associated with the God of War show. Casting calls have reportedly gone out for actors between the ages of 14 and 17 that are expected to relate to a teenage Atreus and for Thor’s daughter Thrud. The 12-year-old actor Callum Vinson has already been cast as Atreus in the show, so this new casting call is suspected to relate to a second series of the show, as it moves into events from the Ragnarok game.
Four episodes had apparently been shot of the show before Hurst suffered his injury. Production is now expected to start back up in October.
Hurst isn’t the only actor to suffer an injury on an Amazon game adaptation set this year, however. Sophie Turner also hurt herself while shooting for the Tomb Raider live action series earlier this year, though filming has now apparently resumed.
Meanwhile, in video game land, the God of War series is set to continue this coming February with the release of Laufey, a game that revolves around the titular character, and runs parallel to events of the 2018 God of War game.
