Actor Dave Bautista has offered an update on his training as he prepares to take on the role of Kratos in Amazon’s God of War series, revealing he’s packed on 20lbs of muscle to play the character. This puts the Guardians of the Galaxy star at an impressive 250lbs in bodyweight.
It was previously confirmed that Bautista had started hitting the weights to bulk for his role as God of War’s muscle-bound protagonist, when at the time he said he was three weeks into his new routine. Prior to that, the former wrestler was noted to have slimmed down quite noticeably in comparison to his previous roles, which he cited was for health reasons. Still, he’s apparently had no problem packing some extra muscle on to his imposing 6ft 4in frame.
Originally Ryan Hurst was cast in the role of Kratos for the God of War series, but unfortunately suffered a bicep injury while filming over the summer. While it was originally thought production would stop until he had healed the producers decided to recast the role due to the length of time Hurst would take to recover. Bautista was then officially confirmed to be taking over the role after a brief period of speculation.
The God of War series will feature an extensive cast that includes Callum Vinson (Atreus), Max Parker (Heimdall), Ólafur Darri Ólafsson (Thor), and Mandy Patinkin (Odin).