Before the neon-lit streets of Drive or the plastic perfection of Barbie, Ryan Gosling was just a skinny kid from Ontario trying not to trip over a sword. Honestly, most people forget—or never knew—that he spent a year in the late '90s living in New Zealand, wearing leather pants, and pretending to fight hydras.
Ryan Gosling in Hercules wasn't just a random career blip; it was a 50-episode marathon that shaped the actor we know today.
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The Casting Swap That Changed Everything
You might assume Ryan was the first choice for the role. He wasn't. Ian Bohen actually played the younger version of the hero in the Hercules: The Legendary Journeys pilot movie and several guest spots. When the spin-off, Young Hercules, got the green light for a full series, Bohen was offered the job. He turned it down. Why? Because he didn't want to move to New Zealand for a year.
Enter a 17-year-old Gosling.
Fresh off the Canadian teen drama Breaker High, Ryan hopped on a plane to Auckland. Producers were a bit worried, though. Gosling was lean—some might say "scrawny"—and didn't exactly scream "son of Zeus." To fix this, the costume department had to get creative. They used arm makeup and specific costume padding to make him look bulkier. Basically, they painted on the muscles that he hadn't yet grown in real life.
Life at Cheiron’s Academy
The show follows a teenage Hercules as he trains at a warrior academy run by the centaur Cheiron. It was basically "High School Musical" but with spears and Greek gods. Ryan wasn't alone in this weird, wonderful endeavor. He was joined by Dean O'Gorman as Iolaus and Chris Conrad as Jason (the future King of Corinth).
The three of them had a chemistry that kept the show afloat even when the CGI was... well, let's just say it was 1998.
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The production was a beast. They shot 50 episodes in a single season. To make that happen, they used a "block shooting" method. This meant they would film scenes for four different episodes at the same time if they shared the same location. It was efficient, but it was exhausting. Ryan has since mentioned in interviews that he initially had a blast, but eventually started taking the work so seriously that it stopped being fun. He was a perfectionist even then.
Weird Production Facts
- Budget: The whole season cost about $20 million. That sounds like a lot, but for 50 episodes, it's a shoestring budget of roughly $400k per episode.
- The LOTR Connection: Visual effects were handled by Weta Workshop. Yes, the same Weta that later won Oscars for The Lord of the Rings.
- The Format: It was shot on 16mm film to save money.
Why the Show Actually Worked
Despite the campy dialogue and the "monster of the week" vibes, Young Hercules had a heart. Kevin Smith (not the director, the New Zealand actor) was legendary as Ares, the God of War. His constant attempts to ruin Herc’s life gave the show a genuine stakes-driven edge.
Ryan brought a specific brand of "wiseguy" energy to the role. He wasn't playing a stoic demi-god; he was playing a kid who was annoyed by his dad (Zeus) and just wanted to hang out with his friends. It was relatable. Sorta.
The series aired on Fox Kids and became a cult classic for anyone who grew up in that era. It wasn't trying to be Succession. It was trying to sell toys and entertain kids on Saturday mornings. And it did that perfectly.
The "Fake Tan" Legacy
Gosling is surprisingly open about this era of his life. He doesn't hide from it. In a 2010 interview with Interview Magazine, he joked about the "fake tan and tight leather pants." He’s even joked that Young Hercules is the role he’s most like in real life.
It's a far cry from the Academy Award-nominated performances he'd give later in Half Nelson or La La Land. But looking back, you can see the seeds of his comedic timing. There’s a scene where he’s arguing with a puppet monster that feels like a precursor to some of the physical comedy in The Nice Guys.
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The show was canceled after one season, mostly because the Fox Kids block was shifting its focus. Ryan moved back to North America, landed a role in The Believer, and the rest is history.
How to Watch It Today
If you’re looking to go down a nostalgia rabbit hole, finding the show can be a bit of a treasure hunt. It isn't always on the big streaming platforms like Netflix or Max.
- Check YouTube: Fans often upload high-quality clips or full episodes.
- Physical Media: There was a DVD release years ago that pops up on eBay.
- Digital Stores: Occasionally, it appears for purchase on Amazon or Google Play depending on your region.
Watching it now is a trip. You're seeing one of the biggest movie stars in the world learning how to hit marks and handle a stunt sword. It’s a reminder that everyone starts somewhere—even if that "somewhere" involves fighting imaginary hydras in Auckland.
To dive deeper into Ryan's early filmography, you can look for his performance in The Believer (2001). It’s the film he credits with actually launching his "serious" career right after the leather pants era ended. You can also track down the 1998 pilot movie if you want to compare how Ian Bohen and Gosling approached the same character differently.