God of War TV Series Will Recast Kratos After Star’s Injury For a Reason That is Sure to Be Divisive

Prime Video’s God of War was dealt a major blow when it was reported that Ryan Hurst, the actor set to star as Kratos in the series based on the PlayStation video game adaptation, had torn his bicep on the set of the series. It’s an injury that was poised to put production on pause potentially into 2027 but now, things have taken a very different turn and the series might get back to work sooner than expected—just without Hurst.

According to Deadline, God of War is set to recast the role of Kratos in the fantasy drama series, No specific details about the recast at this time, just that the decision was made “after careful consideration by the studio on the show, Sony Pictures Television and Amazon MGM Studios.” Prep is anticipated to begin in mid-August with production starting in mid-October with the new Kratos, once he’s cast. The series had reportedly already fully filmed four episodes at the time of Hurst’s injury. Per the report, those episodes will be reshot.

Recasting Kratos Is a Heartbreaking Development And May be Divisive For Fans

The decision to recast Kratos for God of War is a heartbreaking development for the series and one that is likely to be controversial among fans. Hurst had undergone significant physical transformation and conditioning for his role, reportedly putting on 40 pounds of muscle for the role—no easy feat. Additionally, the recasting decision comes as the actor is currently recovering from the injury. While it hasn’t been disclosed precisely how the injury happened while performing a stunt on set, it was revealed that he has already undergone surgery as the incident happened in late June. While Hurst’s specific recovery time is unknown, the recovery typically takes up to six months and longer to get back to full strength.

That sort of timeline is one that the production simply cannot do. The series has had a long road to even get to production, with development having initially begun back in 2022. More than that, two seasons have been ordered of the series with both seasons expected to film back-to-back. With it being the first season that was in production at the time of the accident, pushing things back to 2027 to allow for Hurst to recover would have created a massive delay in the filming of the second season and, in turn, would have created an even longer delay for the show to actually debut.

Despite this logical reason for the decision to recast to keep production on schedule, fans of the God of War video game had come to be supportive of Hurst as Kratos. With fans being very particular about the actors who bring beloved game characters to life, finding someone to meet their expectations after they’d settled with Hurst may be difficult and there will be some fans who may have preferred a delay to what feels tantamount to fully starting over. Time will tell how the new Kratos is received.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!