Movie fans know Ryan Gosling for belting out “I’m Just Ken” in “Barbie” and rescuing the Earth from extinction in “Project Hail Mary,” but the Oscar-nominated star also played a powerful Greek god on TV. At 17 years old, Gosling starred in “Young Hercules,” a prequel to “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” that focuses on the titular character’s training and evolution as a fearsome warrior.
Gosling appeared in one episode of “The Legendary Journeys” as the villain Zylus before taking over for Ian Bohen as the younger version of Hercules in the spin-off series. “Young Hercules” aired one 50-episode season from 1998 to 1999 on the Fox Kids Network. The show received mediocre reviews from audiences, holding a 50% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 5.7 user rating on IMDb.
Ryan Gosling spoke about starring in Young Hercules
Speaking with Entertainment Tonight back in 1998, Ryan Gosling detailed how he, an up-and-coming young actor at the time, landed the role of Hercules. “I went out [to the audition] and it’s just a bunch of 40-year-old linebackers with full-on five o’clock shadows,” Gosling said. “I was like, ‘This is ridiculous. I should not be here.’ And I guess the casting director took pity on me and let me come in. It went on for a while, and eventually I got the part.”
Unaware of the success he would achieve after “Young Hercules,” Gosling also addressed his hopes for the future in the wake of his big break. “I don’t know what it will do to my career,” he said. “It’s gonna be a whole different life experience for me, so, enriching me as a person, that’s what it’s gonna do for me. Whatever happens career-wise, if I never work again, I never work again.”
Gosling’s slated to expand the action-fantasy section of his resume in 2027 when he joins the “Star Wars” universe in “Star Wars: Starfighter.”