The God of War live-action series adaptation is officially a go at Prime Video. Reports on the series emerged in March, with Amazon wanting to acquire rights to make a television adaptation, based on the critically-acclaimed franchise. The Wheel of Time’s Rafe Judkins, who also co-wrote the Uncharted movie for Sony, will serve as showrunner on the upcoming series. Meanwhile, The Expanse creators Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby executive produce and write God of War for Amazon. While previously, there was no information on what timeline the series would be adapted from — the ancient Greek or the newer Norse mythology — it is now revealed that the project will follow story beats from the award-winning 2018 reboot version — the one with the bearded Kratos.
“God of War is a compelling, character-driven franchise that we believe will captivate our global customers as much with its expansive and immersive worlds as its rich storytelling,” Vernon Sanders, head of global television at Amazon Studios, told The Hollywood Reporter. “We are honoured to share in the adventure of exploring the God of War mythology in such a momentous way with Sony Pictures Television, PlayStation Productions, and [developer] Santa Monica Studio.”
The critically acclaimed 2018 game follows Kratos, the God of War, who has exiled himself from his blood-soaked past, after years of back-and-forth battles against the Gods of Olympus, in ancient Greece. He now resides in the Norse realm of Midgard, reeling from the pain of his beloved wife’s death, and sets off on a treacherous journey to scatter her ashes from the highest peak in the nine realms. Joining him in the task is his estranged son Atreus, who must learn how to survive the unforgivable harsh world, fight gods and monsters of all kinds, and forge a strong bond with his father; and vice versa.
“God of War is one of PlayStation’s most awarded video games, so we’re excited to partner with Sony Pictures Television and Amazon Studios to bring our beloved franchise to fans and new audiences in a bold and authentic way,” said Asad Qizilbash, head of PlayStation Productions, in a prepared statement. God of War joins the ever-growing list of first-party PlayStation titles headed for a live-action adaptation, among the likes of a Horizon Zero Dawn series, helmed by The Umbrella Academy creator Steve Blackman, and the upcoming The Last of Us series, premiering January 16 on Disney+ Hotstar in India.
Live-action adaptations of video games have always been a subject of controversy, with the most recent Tom Holland-led Uncharted film gaining negative reception from critics. Sure, the film managed to gross $401.7 million (about Rs. 3,324 crore) at the global box office, but it watered down on a lot of action set pieces — which the series is lauded for — and played it safe with poor narrative choices that seemed off-beat for the core characters. The only good examples in recent memory are Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and Arcane — both from Netflix — with the former simply utilising the futuristic universe as forming grounds to tell a unique story, separate from the CD Projekt Red video game.
Elsewhere, the sequel to God of War (2018), God of War Ragnarök won six trophies at The Game Awards 2022, held last week, including one for Best Performance, which Christopher Judge collected. Of course, with the announcement of the TV series, fans are bound to come up with casting choices that they seem fit, with even Cory Barlog, director of the first game, joining in on the fun — jokingly claiming to cast Chris Pratt as the brutish Kratos. The latter is voicing Mario in the upcoming The Super Mario Bros. Movie for Universal Pictures.
There’s a lot more in store for us from PlayStation Productions, starting with the David Harbour-led (Stranger Things) Gran Turismo movie, coming August, next year. Then there are movie adaptations for the zombie-killing survivor game Days Gone and Gravity Rush, the sci-fi adventure based on a character with gravity-defying superpowers.
Currently, there is no release window for the God of War series from Amazon Prime Video.