God of War Ragnarok’s Christopher Judge Talks “Becoming Kratos”

Acting, in its many forms, is one of the essential elements to making a production great. Even when no words are spoken, body language can give powerful clues as to what is being felt by a character or being. With AAA cinematic titles like God of War Ragnarok, you must have all the characters rooted deeply in lore and projected by voice actors who give the character’s weight. When the franchise was reborn on PS4, Christopher Judge became the voice of Kratos. He infused the character with a weight many people resonated with, and it’s just as profound in the new game.

In a new behind-the-scenes video about God of War Ragnarok, the team at Santa Monica Studio and Christopher Judge himself talked about what it was like “becoming Kratos” from all aspects of development. For example, we see how Judge himself did the motion capture for much of what Kratos did in the game. He notes in the video that he would make himself “bigger” as he walked and moved to try and emulate Kratos’ look. Furthermore, when he moved around, he did it with purpose. He did it in a way that many would think is “basic,” but it’s not. In Judge’s mind, everything that Kratos does is calculated and purposeful. He doesn’t do things “on a whim.” Instead, he acts with decisiveness and clear intent.

Judge also said that when he got the role back on the PS4, he had a physique that wasn’t unlike what Kratos had, so he “felt like him,” which helped him with the role.

We also looked at one of the people who do the motion capture for the battle animations for Kratos. He notes that there are moments when he can “unleash chaos” in his movements and that it plays into who Kratos is. Because you’ll see those moments, and then he and Kratos will “rein it in” to stop it from getting fully out of control.

Elsewhere in the video, Judge talks about how he and the team would relay their own stories of parenthood, and those would help him get to where he needed to be “emotionally” to portray Kratos. Because in the new games, Kratos is about protecting his son Atreus, and Judge can relate to that.

As shown in the video below, Judge cares a lot about this character. The team has noted how he has gone above and beyond to be Kratos for them, which shows in the finished product.

Source: YouTube