Early on in the series, special visual effects were conceived by Richard Taylor's Weta Workshop, the then little known visual effects company that went on to win several Academy Awards for their work on The Lord of the Rings. Weta and Richard Taylor stepped off Young Hercules early on to work on Lord of the Rings. In fact, the early production days of Young Hercules saw many of its crew leave to work on the then little known Peter Jackson sensation, Lord of the Rings.
Executives were skeptical of casting Ryan Gosling as Hercules since he was so skinny but Gosling won them over with his performance.
To train for the role, Ryan Gosling took intense martial arts classes by Master Douglas L Wong, the same trainer who taught Lucy Lawless and Kevin Sorbo.
Ian Bohen who played Young Hercules in 4 episodes of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995) and the movie pilot Young Hercules (1998) declined to return to the role as he was unwilling to move to New Zealand full-time.