{"id":75497,"date":"2026-08-10T21:52:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T13:52:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=75497"},"modified":"2026-08-10T21:52:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T13:52:28","slug":"god-of-war-fans-agree-ryan-hursts-new-kratos-pic-looks-much-better-than-prime-videos-previous-widely-ridiculed-photo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=75497","title":{"rendered":"God of War Fans Agree Ryan Hurst’s New Kratos Pic Looks Much Better Than Prime Video’s Previous, Widely-Ridiculed Photo"},"content":{"rendered":"


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God of War fans are reacting positively to a new photo of Ryan Hurst in costume as Kratos, as Prime Video seeks to secure his replacement.<\/p>\n

Prime Video dramatically parted ways with Hurst last month and said it would recast the title role in its God of War series, as Hurst had sustained a bicep injury which required him to undergo surgery.<\/p>\n

The announcement came after an initial look at Hurst in character as Kratos, published by Prime Video, which drew widespread ridicule. The image was mocked for its CGI-like backdrop, fake-looking props, and Kratos’ unfortunate pose \u2014 which God of War creator David Jaffe memorably described as looking “like he was s***ing in the woods.” Hurst later issued a cryptic response that fans shouldn’t “believe everything they see on the internet,” which some took to mean that Kratos’ design was still a work-in-progress.<\/p>\n

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Ryan Hurst as Kratos and Callum Vinson as Atreus in God of War. Image courtesy of Amazon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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While Prime Video may have hoped Kratos’ recasting would draw a line under all of that, Hurst himself has now set tongues wagging with a topless pic of himself, posted to Instagram Stories (via X \/ Twitter user @TheGameVerse). Fans have said that the photo is a huge improvement on the image released officially by Prime Video itself, and that the streamer had acted too quickly in hunting for a replacement star.<\/p>\n

Of course, Prime Video itself has argued that it has a production schedule to meet, which Hurst’s surgery would have impacted. But the company has also reportedly acted fast to line up a replacement, with Guardians of the Galaxy’s Dave Bautista now eyed as a leading contender.<\/p>\n

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Ryan Hurst in costume as Kratos. Image credit: Instagram \/ X.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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“Amazon made the biggest mistake by not waiting for him to heal or simply asking if he can still do it,” one fan has now written in a lengthy thread on X, after seeing Hurst’s own photo. “There’s no one that can be a better Kratos than Ryan Hurst.”<\/p>\n

“Seeing him in The Odyssey made me believe he can pull it off I don\u2019t see why they want to rush this,” said another. “They did him DIRTY with that first pic,” said a third. <\/p>\n

“That first official photo really didn’t do him any favors, THIS should have been our first look,” added another fan. “So it was just a bad photo shoot from Amazon… man looks fabulous in this,” said yet another.<\/p>\n