Unlike movies based on video games, TV shows based on video games have been more hit than miss lately. There’s HBO’s The Last of Us, Peacock’s Twisted Metal, Prime Video’s Fallout, and Netflix’s Arcane and Castlevania: Nocturne; even Paramount+’s Knuckles was pretty fun.
The list of upcoming small-screen video game adaptations includes Mass Effect, a Ghost of Tsushima anime, and most intriguing of all, God of War.
Here’s everything we know about Prime Video’s God of War series, including plot details and the Reacher actor who would love to play Kratos.
Plot
There are two eras to Santa Monica Studio’s God of War video game franchise: the first is based on Greek mythology; the second, Norse mythology. The Prime Video series from Sony TV and Amazon MGM Studios will seemingly (although not definitively) focus on the latter. That unfortunately would skip Kratos teaming up with the Titans to climb Mount Olympus and kill Zeus, but it does mean we’ll meet Jörmungandr, Brok, and Freya.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Here’s a general plot summary as established in 2018’s Game of the Year-winning God of War, via Deadline:
When his beloved wife dies, Kratos sets off on a dangerous journey with his estranged son to spread her ashes from the highest peak — her final wish. Kratos soon realizes the journey is an epic quest in disguise, one which will test the bonds between father and son, and force Kratos to battle new Gods and monsters for the fate of the world.
God of War is a father-son story… that also features some of the coolest monsters and gnarliest, head-ripping violence you’ve ever seen. It rules.
The Prime Video show was originally entrusted to showrunner/executive producer Rafe Judkins and executive producers Hawk Ostby and Mark Fergus, but they have since left the project “after completing multiple scripts for the first season.” Battlestar Galactica creator Ronald D. Moore has since stepped in as the new showrunner for God of War, and just like Tony Gilroy and Andor, he’s not familiar with the source material.
“The controllers now…” Moore, who hasn’t played video games since the 1980s, told Katee Sackhoff (BSG reunion!) on The Sackhoff Show with a laugh. “Press R1. Which one’s R1? Oh, I’m dead! I can’t quite get a hold of that.”
Hey, it worked for the best Star Wars show.
That’s all the confirmed details we have for God of War for now (other than Moore slipping that Prime Video has “ordered two seasons” of the show), but if you want to immerse yourself in the story of Kratos and “Boy,” I mean, Atreus, here’s the order to play the mainline games:
You can play them here.
Cast
Hm, God of War will need a big, strong man to portray Kratos. Why not cast the biggest, strongest man? 7′ 2″ actor/bodybuilder Olivier Richters, who played Paulie on Reacher, is interested. “Of course I want to be Kratos,” he told Screen Rant, “but I don’t believe they would ever pick me for Kratos. I’m just too darn big. But there is a God that’s bigger than Kratos, and that is Týr, or also Thor. I asked my agent, ‘You have to pursue this for me. Amazon now knows me. Can Paulie play in God of War?’ That’s one of my dream roles.”
If not Richters, then maybe Dave Bautista (sorry, Christopher Judge)?
Release Date
Considering the cast hasn’t even been revealed yet and the massive amount of post-production involved, it’s going to be awhile.
Trailer
You can watch a story trailer for 2018’s God of War game below.