God of Waractor Christopher Judge recently revealed that he was offered an opportunity to play the role of a younger Kratos, but turned it down out of respect for previous actor Terrence C. Carson and his work on the original trilogy.
Speaking with YouTuber AbdBay in a recent interview (thanksPlayStation LifeStyle), Judge explains that he never went back and watched Carson’s performance as Kratos in the original trilogy out of respect, as he thought it would be a “disservice” to him if he tried to match his voice in the reboot. Instead, Judge wanted to make his own mark on the character, and would’ve turned down the role if Santa Monica had forced him to try and match Carson.
To prove his point, Judge goes on to reveal that he was actually asked by either Santa Monica or Sony to try and “somewhat match” Carson’s voice for a recent cameo of young Kratos - presumably in the recently releasedGod of War Ragnarok: Valhalla DLC- but turned down the offer, as he thought it would be disrespectful to Carson and the character.
Even if they asked, I would’ve said no. I was actually offered something not too long ago, and I had to turn it down because they wanted me to somewhat match the voice of that character, and I said absolutely not.
Judge goes on to explain more of his reasoning behind his decision, explaining that voice actors and actors are often underappreciated for “what we as individuals bring to stuff” and considers it “inherently wrong” to take the work and established character of another actor or voice actor and make it your own.
Unfortunately, those of you who have finished the recently releasedGod of War Ragnarok: Valhalla DLC will know that Terrence Carson wasn’t brought back to voice the younger version of Kratos, even though Judge refused tom voice him. In fact, he doesn’t say anything at all, though from Judge’s comments we can assume that the devs originally planned to have him speak, but either didn’t want to hire Carson or he didn’t want to play the role again.
Either way, it’s a classy gesture from Judge to respect the legacy of Terrence Carson in this way, especially since he more than likely has the chops to recreate the character’s voice to an acceptable degree given his talent. It’s also nice that Judge advocates for more respect for actors and voice actors in general, as the games industrycontinues to shift towards AIfor its voice acting needs.
