By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
The 90s boom of syndicated action-adventure shows gave rise to stars including Lucy Lawless, introducing a new generation to Bruce Campbell and briefly making the world fall in love with Kevin Sorbo. Sorbo may have become a household name as Hercules, but it was his show’s spin-off, Young Hercules, that helped launch the career of one of the biggest names in Hollywood today: Ryan Gosling. At the age of 18, Gosling had his first major starring role in the Foix Kids spin-off, and to the surprise of no one today, he helped make it a hit.
Ryan Gosling As Hercules
Young Hercules broke from the adventuring mold of the original by remaining primarily set in one location, Cheiron’s Academy, where he’s one of the cadets learning under the wise centaur of Greek myth. The demigod meets Iolaus, his lifelong sidekick and best friend, for the first time, along with Prince Jason and Lilith, as they get into adventures around the academy. Ryan Gosling is now a Golden Globe winner, but never forget he got his start in a low-budget New Zealand series that, despite the rote premise, is still a ton of cheesy fun.
After all, Young Hercules is a spin-off and one of the best villains of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Ares, still played by Kevin Tod Smith, frequently turns up with all his leather-clad swagger from the original. Strife, played by character actor Joel Tobock, also crossed over amongst all three shows, and Jason Hoyte, a local New Zealand actor, played Hephaestus, God of the Forge in all three shows. When you see Ryan Gosling chewing up all of the scenery in Barbie and The Fall Guy, know that he learned how to be over the top from some of the best in the business.
The Reason Gosling Swore Off Television
Young Hercules was a short-lived series with only one season, though it contained 50 episodes, and despite coming in second on Fox Kids behind only the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, it was canceled. A large part of that wasn’t the show’s reception but instead Ryan Gosling choosing to move on to movies and deciding after his experience on the series that he would never work in television again. Amazingly, decades later, his only television starring roles have been as the host of Saturday Night Live.
The 90s syndication boom kicked off by Baywatch ended up fizzling out a few years after the end of Young Hercules in 1999, after we already had shows about Robin Hood, Tarzan, and Sinbad, along with Bruce Campbell’s short-lived Jack of All Trades and Tia Carrere’s Tomb Raider knock-off, Relic Hunter. Most of the shows of the era are tangled in rights disputes and unavailable to stream, or at least, for the longest time, they were, but with Xena and Hercules now on streaming, there’s hope that someday The New Adventures Of Robin Hood can come back.
Granted, none of those shows had a future star in the making like Ryan Gosling, which is why Young Hercules is the exception, and it’s streaming for free on The Roku Channel.
