Christopher Judge, the voice actor behind Kratos, refused to voice a younger version of the character featured in God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla. Here’s why.
Speaking during an interview, Kratos voice actor Christopher Judge revealed that he turned down the offer to voice the younger version of the protagonist featured in a sequence in God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla. He also shared that he had not gone through the earlier God of War trilogy in preparation for his role in the new series because Terrence Carson, Kratos’ voice actor in the original series, was so great.
Judge mentioned that he thought it would be a disservice to try to voice match Carson, nor did Santa Monica Studio ask for it. He said that, from the very beginning, the idea was for him to make the character of Kratos his own. He mentioned that Carson is so extraordinary that his reverence for his work would have prevented him from trying to match his voice, even if Santa Monica Studio had asked.
The Kratos voice actor stated that he was, in fact, offered something along those lines not too long ago, and he had turn it down because game creators wanted him to somewhat match the voice of the original voice actor behind the character he was to voice. He said that trying to take on something that someone else has already established is not only a slight to them but also a slight to him.
Judge appeared to be referring to a scene involving Kratos confronting his younger self in God of War Ragnarok’s Valhalla DLC. It’s possible that Santa Monica Studio had planned for there to be a conversation between Kratos and his younger self. However, during the sequence, the younger Kratos remains silent as his older version does all the talking.