God of War Ragnarok actor Chris Judge knows Kratos better than the developers now

God of War Ragnarok
(Image credit: Sony)

The actor responsible for bringing Kratos to life in God of War Ragnarok seems to know the character better than the game's developer now.

In an interview with GQ, God of War Ragnarok director Eric Williams gave an insight into the development of the sequel and explained the process behind bringing Kratos to life.

"He knew Kratos inside out," Williams said of the actor, "that's the blessing of Chris." The director goes on to say how Judge would actually correct the development team when it came to some of Kratos' mannerisms. "There's this one thing, and you probably don't perceive it, but Kratos never uses contractions. Ever," Williams explains. "He won’t say 'don't', he’ll say 'do not,' because it's very stern." 

"Chris would catch it," Williams continues, "like 'oh, you guys missed one!' He was so into the character." Judge didn't just embody the Norse god when it came to catching contractions though, as Williams also mentions, the actor would also give suggestions based on how he felt Kratos would react in certain situations. "There'll be other times like, 'Okay, I could say this. Or I could just do the grunt.' And the writers are on set! So their words are just getting strikethroughed – and they're cool with it,"  

Judge, at the centre of the God of War Ragnarok cast, has played a part in bringing Kratos to life since God of War 2018, so it's only natural for him to feel well acquainted with the character by now. It's clearly been an emotional time bringing the God of War sequel to fans over the last few years. In fact, just months before near-perfect review scores, God of War Ragnarok devs were panicking that "the game's not good." 

We're hours away from finally getting our hands on the highly anticipated sequel. While we wait, find out what you can expect from our God of War Ragnarok review. 

Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.