Christopher Judge Didn’t Voice Young Kratos Out Of Pure Respect For T.C. Carson

Nothing like greatness recognizing greatness. The God of War reboot picks Christopher Judge as the choice of VA for Kratos, but before the 2018 iteration and the latest title in the series — Ragnarok — T.C. Carson took the mantle of voicing the younger, more ruthless version of Kratos. When asked about his thoughts on Carson’s portrayal of the character, Judge revealed that he, too, was asked one time to get behind the young Kratos, but couldn’t do so out of sheer respect for the voice actor. 

Judge appeared in a podcast as of late, going over his time working on the franchise. He was initially asked if he had to prepare specifically for the voiceovers while being in consideration of the major switch in mythology, but apparently, the mythology didn’t “mean anything” to him. Next, when Judge went on to elaborate on how he also never analyzed the scenes from the previous God of War games. Here’s why: 

So my approach was this, who I am and then here’s my surroundings, you know. And I never, I never watched any of the scenes from the earlier ones because T.C. is so great and I thought it would be a disservice to try to voice match him or anything and nor did they ask for. From the very beginning, it was about making it my own and T.C. is so extraordinary that my reverence for what he did wouldn’t even … If they had asked, I would have said no.” 

He then went on to share another instance where he was indeed asked to try to mimic the previous iteration of the Ghost of Sparta. Judge’s firm moral values kicked in, not to mention the acknowledgment of the legacy that T.C. Carson has left behind as well. In all fairness, it does not get better than this—one fantastic artist paying homage to another is a sight to behold in the ultra-competitive world we live in today.   

I was actually offered something not too long ago and I had turn it down because they wanted me to somewhat match the voice of that character and I said absolutely not. I mean, I love this dude. Like that’s that would be such a slight to, you know. It’s often we are not celebrated for what we, as individuals, bring to stuff and that’s across the board. I just think it’s inherently wrong to commandeer something that someone else has already established. It’s not only a slight to them, it’s a slight to me and I just would never do that.” 

If you haven’t played the original, hack-and-slash-centric God of War games, here’s a brilliant compilation video of T.C.’s voice acting from God of War 3. The man played his part extremely well, showcasing with great accuracy what a man with nothing left to lose would do to exact revenge on those who wronged him so severely. 

Speaking of the earlier God of War titles, it’s been rumored that the original trilogy of the series, namely God of War, God of War 2, and God of War 3, are all set to receive a remaster, but it’s unclear whether the reimagining will be more on the remake side or not. Given how Christopher Judge prefers not to delve into the voice acting of Kratos’ previous rendition, we just might be able to see T.C. Carson returning to the big screen again.