Kratos actor Christopher Judge takes responsibility for God of War: Ragnarok's delay

Published , by TJ Denzer

Kratos has a very, very recognizable voice as of his recent appearances. It’s the kind of voice that, if changed, would likely be noticed and cause some concern among fans. Christopher Judge delivered a stellar performance as Kratos in the 2018 game and claims his ties to that character might be a big part of why God of War: Ragnarok has been delayed. Well, that and a debilitating surgery.

Christopher Judge himself came out with an explanation on his personal Twitter recently, opening up about a major surgery he had in 2019 as well as taking responsibility for God of War: Ragnarok’s delay to 2022. According to Judge, back in August 2019 he was in a state in which he couldn’t walk and needed to have major back and hip surgery. It also required a lengthy period of rehab. Because of this, Judge says Sony Interactive and Santa Monica Studio waited on him to recover before they continued with work on the game.

It seems likely that there are more matters that contributed to the delay other than Christopher Judge being unavailable, but not having the 2018 voice of Kratos on hand to deliver in the sequel sounds like a pretty big reason to hold off. Judge’s performance in the previous God of War was a gravelly powerhouse delivery. It was also good enough to get him into the nomination short list for The Game Awards 2018. He’s also been kind enough to speak with us here at Shacknews alongside Atreus actor Sunny Suljic in the past.

With that in mind, if Sony and Santa Monica did truly push God of War: Ragnarok back specifically to let Judge recover from his surgery, it sounds like the right call. Judge plays an amazing Kratos and he’s sure to be just as good in 2022 when he and Suljic return to continue the adventures of Kratos and Atreus and their saga against the Norse pantheon. If Christopher Judge got the time to take care of his health along the way, that sounds like an admirable bonus.