The curse of video game adaptation finally seems to be disappearing, especially since we’ve recently had some really cool products, like Arcane expansion in League of Legends, AmazonA fantastic live-action take on the Fallout universe, HBOIncredibly faithful recreations of The Last of Us, the hit Sonic the Hedgehog animated films, and the epic Mortal Kombat films.
And the next big franchise to enter this hall of fame (or at least, we hope so) is God of War, which is getting a live-action series Amazon Prime Video. The shooting of the film was already progressing, but the work came to a sudden, unexpected halt recently after the leading man suffered a serious injury on the set, forcing him to completely withdraw from the project.
A Destructive Damage Set Forces a Critical Decision
According to a report by Deadline, the upcoming God of War series is facing a major shakeup. Production was forced to stop completely following a serious accident involving Ryan Hursta character originally cast to bring Kratos to life.
Hurst is reported to have badly torn his biceps muscle, which will require immediate surgery. While the actor is currently recovering and under close medical supervision, the timeline of his rehabilitation has brought a cold shower to executives at Amazon and Sony.
Initially, the team hoped that the Ghost of Sparta would be back on its feet by mid-August. However, medical experts have estimated that his full recovery could take up to 10 months before he can tackle the tough, heavy demands of the role again. Because of this long window, the studios had to make a difficult decision for the company: Ryan Hurst has officially left the project, and the search for a new Kratos has begun.
Production was forced to halt completely following a serious accident involving Ryan Hurst, the actor originally cast to revive Kratos.
But changing the lead actor is just a key feature of this troubled production. To make matters even more difficult, Deadline also reveals that the show will have to be reruns of everything that has been filmed so far.
Before the accident, the team had completely finished four episodes, and the original plan was to shoot two seasons in a row, combining both episodes. 2018 Norse reboot again God of War: Ragnarök. So, why not just wait for Hurst to recover instead of throwing months of hard work in the trash? Well, it all comes down to the real, ticking biological clock.
The young actor was cast to play Kratos’ son, Atreus Callum Vinson (who you may know from the TV show Chucky or the latest movie The Night Agent). As we all know, young actors are growing up and change is happening very quickly. If the studios waited nearly a year for Hurst to recover, Vinson’s physical appearance would have completely changed, breaking the continuity of the show. So, to keep father and son believable, Amazon chooses to hit the big reset button for now.
The new plan is to find a replacement actor this August, let them prepare, and resume filming in Vancouver in October. They will be joining an already stellar cast Teresa Palmer like Sif, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson like Thor, Mandy Patinkin like Odin, too Max Parker like Heimdall, all led by the show’s producer Ronald D. Moore (from TV shows The Outlander again Battlestar Galactica).
Now, the big question on everyone’s mind is: who can step into Kratos’ iconic boots and wield the Leviathan Ax this October? We’ll definitely be keeping our eyes open for the next announcement to emulate this one.
