Kratos actor Christopher Judge says he did indeed read for the role in Prime Video's God of War TV show, but has "no desire" to take it on and nothing but well wishes for newly cast actor Dave Bautista.
"I did read for it! It was so hard for me to memorize my lines, which I never had a problem with," Judge told Collider. "And that was my mind and body starting to tell me, 'You don't want to do this.' I was one of the leads of Stargate at 33 to 44 and then stopped. Now, at 62, to be the lead, I just have no desire to live that way again."
Judge played Jaffa warrior Teal'c in the sci-fi series Stargate, with his tenure spanning some 211 episodes across 1997-2007. In 2022, he became the second actor to provide the voice and motion capture for Kratos in the God of War video game sequel God of War Ragnarök.
The Prime Video TV show adaptation has been off to a slightly rocky start, with a first-look photo of Kratos being heavily criticized by fans and actor Ryan Hurst, only for Hurst to be recast after suffering a severe injury on set. Hurst was replaced with Dave Bautista, best known for his tenure as Drax the Destroyer in James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy film series.
As it stands, the official God of War cast includes Ed Skrein as Baldur, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Thor, Mandy Patinkin as Odin, Teresa Palmer as Sif, Max Parker as Heimdall, Sonya Walger as Freya, and Alastair Duncan as Mimir.
"With Ryan, I thought that was absolutely the right choice," Judge continued. "He's played all the games. He's a gamer and new father; like, who better? Then when he got hurt, it was like, are they going to take time to read with and call people back? So when I heard the name of Bautista, I thought, 'Didn't he just lose like 100 pounds?' So I hope he's going to be great. I think he's going to be great. I just hope it doesn't cause any health issues to put back on all that weight."
God of War does not yet have a release date. For more, check out the new PS5 games on the horizon, plus all the new TV shows coming your way in 2026 and beyond.
