GoKawiilOne of the many, many video upcoming game adaptations, Prime Video's God of War, has hit a pretty significant roadblock after a serious on-set injury has forced the show to recast Kratos.
First reported by TMZ, Ryan Hurst, who was announced as the lead role at the beginning of the year, tore his bicep while filming a stunt, an injury that required surgery. Sony Pictures Television and Amazon MGM Studios had reportedly hoped to have the 50-year-old actor back on set by mid-August, but recovery time post-op is typically between 4-6 months.
Given the physical nature of the role, Hurst may have needed considerably longer than that to get back to the required fitness level, and according to Deadline, the production couldn't wait that long. Therefore the difficult decision was taken to find a new actor to take over the role of the eponymous God of War.
God of War halted production straight after Hurst's injury and is still on pause, with Deadline reporting that the studios are targeting mid-October to resume shooting in Vancouver. An official image of Kratos and Atreus (played by Callum Vinson) released by Amazon back in February remains the only look we've had at the live-action adaptation of the long-running PlayStation video game series. Deadline sources say four episodes have been fully completed and will now have to be reshot with the new Kratos.
It's obviously an incredibly unfortunate turn of events for Ryan Hurst, who reportedly put on 40 pounds of muscle in preparation for the role. There's no word on who might replace him, but Deadline was told by sources that the plan is still to shoot two seasons back-to-back.
Earlier this year we learned that Deadpool's Ed Skrein will play Baldur in God of War. The rest of the cast includes Mandy Patinkin as Odin, Max Parker as Heimfall, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Thor, Teresa Palmer as Sif, Alastair Duncan as Mimir, Jeff Gulka as Sindri and Danny Woodburn as Brok.