God Of War Star Dave Bautista Shows Off Kratos Physique And Beard In Video

After a truly tragic setback for the Prime Video "God of War" series that saw original star Ryan Hurst injured on set, Dave Bautista is set to make his debut as Kratos. It seems the actor is taking his role as seriously as die-hard fans would hope, as a new video reveals Bautista has put on an extra 20 pounds of muscle to play the Spartan warrior-turned-demigod.

Dave Bautista says he's up to 250 pounds after gaining 20 more pounds of muscle to play Kratos in 'GOD OF WAR'. pic.twitter.com/T6dGrqKiAY

— Geek Vibes Nation (@GeekVibesNation) November 1, 2026

The video originated on the actor's Instagram stories on November 1, 2026, and shows him flexing his muscles while sporting a Kratos-like beard and wearing a "God of War" shirt. Text on screen reads "Gained 20lbs for GOW" and "250!", confirming that Bautista has bulked up to 250 pounds ahead of his debut as Kratos. That's a significant gain, especially considering the actor's recent weight changes.

2023's "Knock at the Cabin" proved Bautista is our best wrestler-turned-actor, but it also required him to bulk up to 315 pounds, which he told Chris Van Vliet on the podcast "Insight" was "uncomfortable." "Now, looking back at it I probably overdid it," he added, "I was probably a little too big." After that, Bautitsa noticeably slimmed down. As a former wrestler for the WWE, he weighed 290 pounds, which means he became considerably larger for "Knock at the Cabin." But as the actor told Van Vliet in 2024, he started dropping weight soon after and got down to 240 pounds. "The more I trimmed down the better I felt," he said, "and I also noticed the more I trimmed down, the better I looked on camera."

Now that he's playing Kratos, Bautista has no choice but to bulk back up to believably portray the muscular protagonist, whose namesake in Greek mythology is the divine personification of strength.

In late June 2026, former Kratos actor Ryan Hurst tore his bicep on the "God of War" set. With the actor facing months of recovery time, Prime Video was forced to recast the lead role, and Dave Bautista was quickly drafted in. Given his physicality and well-established acting chops, he was the perfect replacement.

But with the former wrestler having dropped a considerable amount of weight in recent years, he needed to pack on some more muscle ahead of filming. Bautista began weight training for the role immediately after his casting was made official in August 2026. An Instagram video from early September saw the actor showing off his latest gains alongside a caption that read, "3rd week in to weight training again. 2 more months to get to where I need to be. Like ridin a bike! LFG!"

Now, it seems he's close to where he needs to be for filming to start. At this point, Prime Video has yet to confirm when filming will recommence, but based on Bautista's "2 more months" comment in his video from September, it seems cameras will start rolling this month. That means the 250-pound Bautista we see in his latest Instagram Stories post is roughly how he'll look in the show, which will need to reshoot all the scenes featuring Hurst before it forges ahead with new episodes.