Dave Bautista Shows Off Kratos Transformation for God of War Series

Dave Bautista has given fans a glimpse of the physique he is building to play Kratos in the upcoming God of War TV adaptation. The former WWE star was cast as the Spartan warrior last month following the departure of lead Ryan Hurst. On Thursday, Bautista shared a video from the gym on Instagram, where he revealed the results of his training so far.

"3rd week in to weight training again. 2 more months to get to where I need to be. Like ridin a bike!

LFG! Bautista captioned the post that saw him pulling off his shirt and flexing into the camera. Sons of Anarchy and Walking Dead actor Hurst, 50, was forced to quit the show after tearing a bicep while performing a stunt on set in late June, four months into the shoot.

His injury required surgery followed by a long recovery. Hurst, who recently starred in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, would have likely needed up to a year for it to be deemed safe for him to perform the action scenes required for the series. He had already filmed four episodes, which will now reportedly be reshot with Bautista.

Deadline reported last month that Bautista was chosen for the role in part because he could quickly build the imposing physique needed to bring the video game character to life. The actor is best known for playing Drax the Destroyer in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and the villainous Glossu Rabban Harkonnen in Denis Villeneuve's Dune franchise. God of War was first released on PlayStation 2 in 2005. The earlier games in the series are based on Greek mythology and follow Kratos on his path of vengeance against the Olympian gods.

The later games draw on Norse mythology and depict Kratos on a path toward redemption, introducing his son, Atreus, as they interact with various Norse gods and figures. Amazon announced it had ordered a live-action series adaptation in 2022. The show, developed by Ronald D Moore (Battlestar Galactica), follows Kratos and Atreus (Callum Vinson) as they embark on a journey to spread the ashes of their wife and mother, Faye. Through their adventures, Kratos tries to teach his son to be a better god, while Atreus tries to teach his father how to be a better human, according to the series' official logline.

Also starring in the series are Mandy Patinkin as Odin, Ed Skrein as Baldur, Max Parker as Heimdall, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Thor, Teresa Palmer as Sif, Alastair Duncan as Mimir, Jeff Gulka as Sindri and Danny Woodburn as Brok. Back in March, David Jaffe, the creator of the video game franchise, issued a damning criticism of the first-look image of Hurst in character as Kratos." Jaffe said that the picture, which showed Kratos standing with his hands on his knees, watching Atreus (Callum Vinson) shoot a bow and arrow in the woods, was "dumb. "Kratos in this pose with this expression, not the guy's face, but this expression, he just looks stupid, he said.

"If you're going to reveal, to most people, a brand new character that you hope is going to carry your series, for the first time, and they've never really seen this before, and this is the way you introduce them? However, he added that showrunner Moore is "awesome and talented, stating that he has no doubt the live-action series will ultimately be good.