God of War‘s Kratos is one of the most iconic video game characters, and while he is extraordinary, the voice actors have also done a great job at making the character as beloved and acclaimed as he is today. TC Carson voiced Kratos in the original God of War games and was heavily praised.
Christopher Judge took on the role of Kratos in Norse mythology and he had big shoes to fill. However, Judge made it his own in an outstanding way that got him critical acclaim, and he went on to win Best Performance for his portrayal of the character at The Game Awards 2022. Even with this achievement, there was a point in time when Judge had completely turned down the chance to play the iconic character.
Christopher Judge Almost Didn’t Take the Iconic Role of Kratos in God of War
The earlier God of War games had two actors playing Kratos, one actor recorded the motion capture footage, and the other actor, that is Terrence Carson, used to voice the character. Christopher Judge getting the role of Kratos had practical reasons as Santa Monica wanted someone who could both, voice and do the motion capture, and Judge’s physical build was it.
Carson initially wanted to do the motion capture for the role, but he wasn’t tall enough. However, Judge didn’t just read for the role and accept it, he had to be convinced. Judge revealed to Variety that when he first read the script of the game he thought it was for a movie and he did not want to try for it as he assumed it would go to a big star.
His agent later told him that it was for a game and he still was hesitant, since he had not done much voice work and when he was told that it would be filmed, he decided to meet the development team at Santa Monica. That is when he said yes. During his Best Performance acceptance speech at the Game Awards 2022, which went for almost 8 minutes, Judge also revealed that he was the last actor to read for the role and he wouldn’t have auditioned had he known it was for a game.
However, he did do it, all thanks to game director Cory Barlog. The main reason behind Judge not going for games was that he was always told that doing a game could be an end to his acting career, and his agent had to cajole him for the audition. During the same speech, Judge also revealed that he almost did not return for God of War Ragnarok as Cory Barlog was leaving as game director and Eric Williams was going to be the game director for the sequel.
Judge said that he wanted to quit, but Barlog convinced and encouraged him, and also vouched for Williams as game director. While Judge wasn’t the only one who doubted Williams in taking the reins from Barlog, he did a great job and the role got Judge the best performance award. Judge also spoke about how he and Williams emotionally connected and worked very well with him and the rest of the team. He mentioned that it took some convincing, but is glad it all worked out.
God of War Ragnarok recently got a new Valhalla DLC expansion, where players saw both young and older Kratos as the character comes face to face with his past. However, the young Kratos did not have any dialogues and many wondered why. A clip of Judging talking about Terrence Carson and voicing the young character was also uploaded and Judge said he would never voice young Kratos out of respect for Carson.
This also blew out of proportion as many thought Judge was asked to voice match Carson in the DLC and Judge had to tweet to clarify that Santa Monica did not ask him to voice match Carson, but it was for another project where he was asked to do a voice match for the character.
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