The actor behind angry deity killer and emotionally stunted dad Kratos in God of War (2018) and God of War Ragnarok has reflected on the growth of his in-game son.
In a panel celebrating the famed action series’ 20th anniversary, modern Kratos star Christopher Judge said that Sunny Suljic, the young actor who plays Atreus in the games, sometimes struggled “to keep his attention for 30 seconds” during the recording of the 2018 reboot.
“So, for Ragnarok, first of all, he knew all his lines,” Judge said, “because he was older and more mature. But then, he came with notes,” apparently to the shock of everyone on set. “It’s been great just seeing you – the maturation process. You turned into a wonderful young man,” he later said to the boy.
Narrative Director Matt Sophos then remembered how Judge, stunned at his co-star’s newfound work ethic, came over and said “‘He’s a whole new motherfucker.'”
“There was definitely a big contrast between the first one and the second one,” Suljic himself recalls. “I think I’ve had enough time to kind of, like, annalyze more emotions, more feelings. And I feel like, as an actor, when you’re younger… I was invested in the game, but I wasn’t psychologically there. So I think for the second game, Ragnarok, I got to dive into deeper emotions… I just felt more connected with the character.”
In somewhat related news, publisher PlayStation isn’t remastering the older God of War games as had been previously rumored for its milestone birthday, but it did add a bunch of cool skins to the latest game and revealed tons of cool merch.
