God of War director addresses rumor of The Rock playing Kratos in TV series

Amazon’s God of War TV series adaptation will see the fearsome Ghost of Sparta brought to life. The official casting of Kratos hasn’t been confirmed yet, but game director Cory Barlog has responded to rumors that Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is in line to play Kratos.

The rise of video game TV adaptations is neverending it seems. With the likes of The Witcher and The Last of Us bringing the beloved medium to a wider audience like never before, more are jumping on board the hype train.

Fallout and Borderlands are just two of the massive franchises set for further adaptations, and a fully fledged God of War TV series is also on the way. One of the biggest questions surrounding the episodic transition to the big screen is the matter of Kratos’ casting.

A new rumor has come to the fore suggesting that Hollywood royalty will be attached to the God of War project in Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. While there has been nothing concrete on the subject either way, a prominent figure in the GOW games has had his say on the matter.

The Rock to play Kratos in God of War TV series?

Cory Barlog has been a part of the God of War franchise since its debut in 2005. The talented developer has worked his way up from an Artist to Lead Animator to Writer to Directorial duties in the two most-recent GOW games. It’s also confirmed that he will be an Executive Producer on the upcoming God of War TV series.

So when it was outed by TMZ, via @RedLighting420, that “The Directors for God Of War are strongly considering casting Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as ‘Kratos’ in the new adaptation of God of War premiering on Amazon Prime,” Barlog had something to say.

“I have literally never heard anything about this,” he simply stated.

i have literally never heard anything about this.

— the fake cory balrog (@corybarlog) June 26, 2023

Given how closely Barlog is working on the show, and how his role also includes a hand in casting, it would seem to shut down The Rock rumors quite quickly.

Updates on the show have been few and far between so far. Leading people to believe that God of War will be some time off just yet. If you are a fan of Kratos though, you might be interested to learn that a sequel to God of War Ragnarok could already be in the works.