Ryan Gosling was only 17 years old when he was cast in the lead role, taking over from Ian Bohen who had played Hercules in the pilot movie.

Ian Bohen was actually offered the series role after playing Hercules in the pilot film, but he turned it down because he did not want to relocate to New Zealand for filming.

To physically prepare for the role, Gosling took intense martial arts classes from the same trainer who coached Lucy Lawless and Kevin Sorbo on Xena and Hercules.

Because Gosling was tall and very thin, his costume was redesigned with a lighter, broader chest to disguise his slim build, and makeup was applied to his arms to simulate muscle contours, similar to tricks used on Sorbo and Lawless.

The series was shot in blocks of four episodes at a time by rotating directors, with scripts designed to reuse the same sets, locations, and actors across each block to save money, despite story lines not always interrelating.

The show was filmed on 16mm film to cut costs, after early tests determined that digital cameras were not yet economically viable for the production.

Early visual effects for the series were created by Richard Taylor's then little-known Weta Workshop, but Taylor and much of the crew left the production early on to work on Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings.

Principal photography took place entirely in New Zealand at Studio West in West Auckland, while post-production work like visual effects and music was completed in Los Angeles.