Game of Thrones’ The Mountain Actor Says He Wants to Play Kratos in Amazon’s God of War Show Despite Dave Bautista’s Casting

Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson has publicly expressed interest in playing Kratos in Amazon’s upcoming live-action God of War series, even though the role has already been recast. The Game of Thrones star, best known for playing Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane, shared an AI-generated image of himself as the iconic PlayStation character and asked fans whether they would like to see him take on the role.

Björnsson’s post has attracted attention largely because his imposing physical stature makes the idea of him playing Kratos easy to imagine. He directly addressed his followers with the question,

“Be honest… would you guys want to see me as Kratos?”.

Dave Bautista Is Now Amazon’s Kratos

There is one major obstacle to Björnsson’s idea: Dave Bautista has already been cast as Kratos. Amazon and Sony replaced Ryan Hurst after the actor suffered an on-set injury, with the change requiring production to reshoot scenes involving the character.

Bautista has since begun an intensive physical transformation for the role. Recent reports indicate that he is training specifically to reach the imposing physique required to portray the older version of Kratos in the live-action adaptation.

Björnsson’s pitch therefore appears to be a playful fan-facing suggestion rather than evidence that Amazon is considering another casting change. Still, his history as a strongman and his experience portraying The Mountain make the hypothetical casting particularly easy for fans to picture.

Amazon’s God of War series has received a two-season order, with Ronald D. Moore serving as showrunner, writer and executive producer. The story follows Kratos and his son Atreus as they travel to fulfill the final wishes of Faye, Atreus’ mother and Kratos’ wife.