Summary
With video game adaptations becoming a popular trend of late it didn’t come as much of a surprise that Prime Video was eyeing an adaptation of Sony Santa Monica’s popular PlayStation hit,God of War. But now development on the series has unexpectedly changed direction.
Prime Video officially ordered aGod of WarTV showto series in December 2022, with Amazon Studios, Sony Pictures Television, and PlayStation Productions co-producing. The studios hired Rafe Judkins as showrunner, who also helms another major series for Prime Video inThe Wheel of Time.The Expanseproducers Hawk Ostby and Mark Fergus also boarded theGod of Warseries as executive producers.God of War’slong-time creative director, writer, and producer, Cory Barlog, is also attached as a producer to oversee the TV adaptation.
While writing on theGod of Warseries was underway as of January 2024, things hit a roadblock.Deadline reportedlast week that Prime Video was hitting the reset button on the series, with Judkins, Ostby, and Fergus departing the TV series. The trio left despite having written multiple scripts that Sony and Prime Video were reportedly happy with. The report cites “a new creative direction” as the reason for the shakeup. On Tuesday,Deadline reportedin a follow-up that the series had found its new showrunner inStar Trekcreator Ronald D. Moore.
TheGod of Warfranchise has almost 20 years worth of games, marking a wealth of story potential for the TV series. However, initial reports revealed that Prime Video wouldfocus on the 2018God of Wargamefor its adaptation, which is set in the Norse mythology era of the franchise. This story follows Kratos after he has left his bloody past with the Greek world behind, and has since settled in Midgard withhis young son, Atreus. The duo goes on a journey to scatter the ashes of Atreus' mother at the highest peak in the nine realms, as per her last wishes, which becomes an epic quest that bonds father and son.
While the Norse era of theGod of Wargames has been praised highly (the 2018 game and its sequel,God of War Ragnarok, are two of the highest-rated games in the series), they do occur much later in the timeline of Kratos' story. It’s possible that Prime Video’s new direction would have the seriesbegin with Kratos' origins in Greece instead, before moving to the Norse era in subsequent seasons if the series is successful.
The latest reports also claim thatGod of Warremains an “important asset” for Prime, meaning it will likely be fast-tracked in development. Following the success of other video game adaptations on TV, likeHBO’sThe Last of Us, andFallout’sfirst season (also produced for Prime Video), it’s clear that video game IP is a hot commodity in Hollywood right now. A proper adaptation ofGod of Warwould no doubt reach the high bar set by other prestige video game adaptations, if not raise it, so it seems unlikely that Prime Video would let development on the TV series lapse for too long.
