Atreus/Owen Cooper
Sony Santa Monica/Netflix
A God of War TV show always seemed like a tall order, a massive video game series in scope that would have to measure up to rivals like The Last of Us and Fallout. And it would probably be even more difficult to film. However, a string of casting announcements have reassured fans that yes, this might end up going very well indeed.
Before all this, we knew that the series was being made by Ron Moore of Battlestar Galactica and For All Mankind fame. Good start. But now the casting list has proven stellar, minus what is easily the second most-important role yet to be cast: Atreus.
Atreus is Kratos’ son who recently lost his mother and searches for answers about her past with his father. In gameplay, you summon him to blast enemies with arrows. In the story, he creates a father-son dynamic with more emotional depth than anything in the entire Greek mythology run of the series. It’s a role key to the concept of these two most recent games and, as such, an incredibly important part that will require a young actor to mesh well with Ryan Hurst’s Kratos.
As you may see above, I have at least one theory about who God of War may try to grab here: young Emmy-winner Owen Cooper of Adolescence, one of the great miracles of Hollywood, whose smash critical and audience hit was his first acting job…ever. Now, he has his choice of roles. He will appear in the upcoming Wuthering Heights, but past that, it would seem his schedule is open. I 100% have to believe he’s under consideration.
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Alfie Williams
28 Years Later
He’s not the only name to surface. Alfie Williams seems like another potential pick, perhaps even closer in appearance to Atreus. While you may not know his name, he’s been a standout in both 28 Years Later and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple as effectively the lead of those films.
One issue brought up is that Atreus, especially in the first game, is meant to be younger. Cooper is 16 and Williams is 15. However, what has been made clear from these other casting announcements is that the God of War show is apparently going to quickly move into the events of the second game, which includes characters like Thor, Sif and Odin who did not appear in the original at all. That may be because the events of the first game take place over a day or so, and it may be hard to stretch an entire first season out of that. So yes, I think those teens are still viable given the time skip.
This announcement has to be imminent. I may be totally off-base, and the show plucks a complete unknown out of the ether for the part, but if I were them, these two are worth pursuing, and either is likely to do a great job.
Finally, for reference, here’s who has been cast so far in God of War:
• Ryan Hurst as Kratos
• Max Parker as Heimdall
• Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Thor
• Teresa Palmer as Sif
• Mandy Patinkin as Odin
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Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2026/01/30/heres-who-could-be-atreus-if-god-of-war-continues-its-perfect-casting/
