After a truly tragic setback for the Prime Video series “God of War” that saw original star Ryan Hurst injured on set, Dave Bautista is set to make his debut as Kratos. It appears the actor is taking his role as seriously as die-hard fans would like, as a new video reveals Bautista gained 20 extra pounds of muscle to play the Spartan warrior turned demigod.
Dave Bautista says he’s up to 250 pounds after gaining an extra 20 pounds of muscle to play Kratos in “GOD OF WAR.” pic.twitter.com/T6dGrqKiAY
— Geek Vibes Nation (@GeekVibesNation) November 1, 2026
The video comes from 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. On-screen text reads “Gained 20lbs for GOW” and “250!”, confirming that Bautista gained up to 250 pounds before his debut as Kratos. That’s a significant gain, especially considering the actor’s recent weight changes.
2023’s “Knock at the Cabin” proved that Bautista is our best wrestler-turned-actor, but it also required him to weigh up to 315 pounds, which he told Chris Van Vliet on the “Insight” podcast was “uncomfortable.” “Now looking back on it, I probably overdid it,” he added, “I was probably a little too big.” After that, Bautitsa lost weight noticeably. As a former WWE wrestler, he weighed 290 pounds, meaning he got considerably bigger for “Knock at the Cabin.” But as the actor told Van Vliet in 2024, he started losing weight shortly after and got down to 240 pounds. “The more I cut back, the better I felt,” he said, “and I also noticed that the more I cut back, the better I looked on camera.”
Now that he’s playing Kratos, Bautista has no choice but to step back to credibly portray the muscular protagonist, whose namesake in Greek mythology is the divine personification of strength.
Dave Bautista is finally at Kratos’ weight
In late June 2026, former Kratos actor Ryan Hurst tore his bicep on the set of “God of War.” With the actor facing months of recovery, Prime Video was forced to recast the lead role and Dave Bautista was quickly brought on board. Given his well-established physique and acting skills, he was the perfect replacement.
But since the former wrestler had lost a lot of weight in recent years, he needed to bulk up more before filming. Bautista began training with weights 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 with a caption that read: “3rd week of fitness with weights. 2 more months to get where I need to be. Like riding a bike! LFG!”
Now it looks like he’s close to where he needs to be for filming to begin. At this point, Prime Video has yet to confirm when filming will resume, but based on Bautista’s comment “2 more months” in his September video, it looks like cameras will start rolling this month. That means the 250-pound Bautista we see in his latest Instagram Stories post is pretty much what he’ll look like on the series, which will have to reshoot every scene featuring Hurst before moving forward with new episodes.
Gn entert
