Dave Bautista could be set to play Kratos in the live action God of War TV show.
The actor, who was previously a WWE superstar before going on to star in such films as Guardians of the Galaxy, Blade Runner 2049, Dune and Spectre, is in talks to step into the now vacant role following the departure of Ryan Hurst, according to Deadline.
Hurst, who was set to play Kratos in the show, sustained an on-set injury in June which led to him tearing his bicep and requiring surgery.
After realising that recovering to full strength for a bicep tear can take up to a year, the production studios took the unfortunate decision to look for another actor to play Kratos instead.
Deadline previously reported that that four episodes of the series had already been shot when Hurst was injured – these will now have to be reshot with Kratos’ replacement.
According to the publication, that replacement could be Bautista, who is now in negotiations with Amazon MGM Studios and Sony Pictures Television to become their new Kratos.
As Deadline notes, Bautista recently finished shooting the Highlander reboot, which required him to physically bulk up for the role, and given his background as a pro wrestler and action movie star, the physical demands of playing Kratos should be manageable.
Bautista has previously expressed a desire to star in Netflix‘s game-to-movie adaptation of the similarly sounding but tonally different Gears of War.
In an interview with ComicBook last year, Bautista was talking about his movie In the Lost Lands when he briefly changed the subject to discuss the Gears of War film, asking fans: “Hey, start an online thing about freaking Gears of War. Come on Netflix. Come on already.”
When the interviewer pointed out that fans have been saying they want to see Bautista cast as the series’ main protagonist Marcus Fenix, Bautista said he had been trying to make it happen.
“Dude, it’s not like I’m not badgering them,” he replied. “You’ve got start a petition. Come on Netflix, get it together.”
The God of War show is reportedly also facing more recasting decisions soon, but these are deliberately planned by the studios involved rather than forced on them due to injury.
Casting calls have been spotted for the show’s second season which suggest the roles of Atreus and Thrud will be recast, to cover the gap between the events of the 2018 God of War game and its sequel Ragnarok.
In Season 1, the role of Atreus will be played by Callum Vinson and Thrud will be portrayed by Island Austin, but the Season 2 casting call is for actors in the 14-17 year old age range, rather than the first season’s casting call which was looking for actors aged 9-12.
