From Hercules to ‘What If’ – Kevin Sorbo on listening to life’s nudges

As a kid, I loved books. Comics, especially. I stayed up late, flashlight under the covers, flipping through pages and stories of action heroes who lived larger than life and filled my little mind with big dreams. Somehow, I felt their muscle and strength were all pointing me somewhere.

It is funny to look back now and realize those late-night pages were the tiny seeds of a much bigger calling. While Mom was often calling from the next room, “Kevin, lights out, go to bed,” a tiny itch inside me made me a late-night rebel who stayed up way past my bedtime. 

All those years ago, it was as if there was a Herculean nudge in a little kid’s body. I could not name it back then, but I felt it in my bones.

Years later, pages and pictures would turn into a real costume, playing Hercules on a soundstage in New Zealand for what would become one of the most-watched shows in the world. But long before that break came, there were a thousand moments when I could have walked away and shut the book altogether, so to speak. 

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I could have stayed in Minnesota. I could have let rejection wear me down. I could have believed the voices that said, “Be realistic.” And in doing so, I would have ignored something sacred: that quiet pull toward something more. Something that lacked certainty but overflowed with purpose. 

That is what this reflection is really about. It is not Hercules or fame. It is about the power of listening to those internal nudges, the “what ifs” we all feel and too often dismiss.

Because the truth is, “What If…,” the film I made 15 years ago with a then-little-known director named Dallas Jenkins, was born out of the same kind of nudge. A new one. A deeper one.

Kevin Sorbo starred in “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.”

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After years of success, I began to sense a shift that I could no longer ignore. Believe me, I tried to for years. Yet, deep down, I wanted my work to reflect not just action, but conviction. Faith. Hope. Something eternal. And that desire, quiet at first, grew louder. 

But it was following my gut as a kid that led me to Hercules, which gave me the evidence to trust the itch. And it led me to a small script from a guy named Dallas Jenkins. The story? A man is shown the life he could have had if he had made different choices. Think modern-day, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

We made “What If…” on a not-so-Herculean budget and mighty load of heart. We had no idea what it would become. And now, 15 years later, both of us call it our favorite film we have ever made.

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Since then, of course, Dallas has gone on to create “The Chosen,” a global phenomenon and one of the most successful faith series of all time. But before that, before “The Chosen“ ever existed, there was “What If…”

Jonathan Roumie stars in Dallas Jenkins’ “The Chosen.” (Courtesy of “The Chosen”)

“What if” Dallas had ignored his nudge? “What if” he had played it safe and never made that first faith-based film? What if I had forgotten mine?

That film marked a new chapter in my life. It was my first faith-based role, and it remains the one I am most proud of, not because of what it did for my career, but because of what it does for others. I still hear from people who were moved by its message. A reminder that it is never too late to change course, to say yes to the life you were meant to live.

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People are hungry for meaning. For second chances. For faith that leads them somewhere beyond the noise.

I do not take my career for granted. I know it is a gift and a responsibility. But I also know it is not the spotlight that matters, it is the voice and calling inside.

Kevin Sorbo is the author of “The Bear Essentials of Fatherhood,” a children’s title from publisher Brave Books that promotes the value dads and masculinity. (Brave Books)

We all get nudges. Some are quiet, some are disruptive. Some pull us toward a different job, a challenging conversation, a new beginning. The question is: Will we listen? Or will we spend our last days asking, What if I had?

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Will you find yourself saying, “What if I had not done _______? I am so glad I did.”

Rather than, “What if I only had done _______? I sure wish I had.”

As someone who did—I can tell you: I am glad I did.

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