Sony’s been doing a good job adapting its flagship franchises into TV shows and movies, with the likes of The Last of Us, Twisted Metal, and Gran Turismo all doing decently. But recently it hit a snag with Netflix’s take on Horizon, and now Deadline is reported that it’s being forced to start from scratch with its God of War series, planned for Amazon Prime.
According to the site, showrunner Rafe Judkins has quit the project, alongside executive producers Hawk Ostby and Mark Fergus. Multiple scripts had been completed, but it’s now expected the show will head in a different creative direction.
Amazon still values this project highly, and so it plans to work with Sony to hire a new writer’s room for the release. Of course, all this means it’s probably years away, as it’ll need to recruit fresh personnel and settle on a script before it can even begin to think about casting.
Much like with Horizon, we’re still not quite sure how God of War will work as a TV show. From our perspective, this sounds like an extremely expensive proposition, which will require a lot of CG to match up to the source material. We also have our reservations about who could actually play Kratos – he’s a man mountain, and always looks a little strange in live action.
[source deadline.com]
Comments 51
I agree, god of war is all about big set pieces. While that makes it sound like the ideal TV show/movie, it'll surely be an expensive one.
I would rather they take their time instead of rushing it and coming out with a snooze fest of a show.
Last of us was great and I was pleasantly surprised with Twisted metal.
I know TLOU is getting a season 2 so I hope TM gets one as well 🙏 Still need to watch GT
Like Horizon, I'd rather see them return to the drawing board and make it an animated show. A God of War game with the art style of Castlevania or Arcane would be cool.
Shows they're not rushing it as a cash grab. Take your time and do it right.
@RawnDawn twisted metal season 2 was already confirmed believe it's already filmed
Vikings Valhalla just finished. Yes it was absolute dogsh*t but I’m all Vikinged out. It was the new zombies for a while there.
Not everything has to be a stupid TV show.
@CVCubbington Don't worry, this should be a pretty intelligent TV show.
@HotGoomba I'd use a lot of words to describe God of War, but intelligent isn't one of them. Lonely, emotionally shut off dad verbally abusing his son in the process of learning to show affection while chopping monsters in half isn't what I would call intelligent. It could be awesome, don't get me wrong, but probably not a smart watch.
@HotGoomba I knew someone would say something like this if I didn’t rephrase
Oh God, please give it to people who are passionate about the games and characters, I don't want to see a fate like the Witcher TV series!
Just leave it and give us another game 👍
would be better if they did the greek version and also in an animated style like someone else mentioned. but of course they’re gonna go with the revisionist version with the annoying kid instead
@nomither6 I know people love it but I still think Norse was the least interesting possible way to use a Greek god.
@HotGoomba " a pretty intelligent TV show."
Isn't that like saying "burning ice"
@Mikey856 the correct answer👍👌
@NEStalgia especially a greek god that’s supposed to be the god “of war”
@nomither6 What could say war god more than trudging alone in desolate hinterlands with kid in tow?
It seemed wrong since they wanted to start from the Norse saga when the Greek one is arguably more important for Kratos character, without telling the full tale his character wouldn’t have made sense, less so his relationship with Atreus which is what the 2018 game is all about.
Didn't expect my corny ass comment to get attention. 😵💫
@B_Lindz I honestly don't know that much about God of War, but yeah, the actual show will probably unfortunately not be as intelligent and heavily thought-provoking or other smart words as I was hoping for. But on the plus side, it'll be entertaining.
@NEStalgia Also yes, it is very much like burning ice.
@CVCubbington I am kinda annoying like that sometimes. Your comment was perfectly fine, I just felt like being corny.
@get2sammyb "We also have our reservations about who could actually play Kratos – he’s a man mountain, and always looks a little strange in live action."
Could use Christopher Judge and he even said that he wants to do it. Makes enough sense to me.
@IOI yeah that's another weird part of the cash in TV shows. Most of the target market is likely too young to even know the original story, and may only know that reboot setting. They're cashing in on familiarity but the story of even the reboot makes zero sense if you didn't play the originals.
@Gravity_Bear I've been saying that from the beginning and everyone keeps saying he's too old! I can't imagine why not use him. He's huge, he's built like the character, and he's got the trademark voice which is the single most important part. Maybe he's "old" but "boy!" Won't have nearly the same power without him. Ok he's very very not Greek.... Minor issue, but he's got the trademark voice, that makes it much easier to overlook.
Someone pointed out he just got past those back injuries, but if he's said he's up for it, yeah, he's the best choice by miles. You can suspend disbelief on appearance with his voice present.
Maybe they could start over with the actual game too and go back to what made it great.
Not sure what difference a showrunner makes, but I often think they should just create a media company and gather people that are passionate about the games and can also make good films and TV series and ignore whether they have a network to back it. Just follow the importance of story and connections of the ip and forget any unnecessary requirements.
@NEStalgia Yeah, I reckon he's perfect.
@HotGoomba Hey, we love a corny comment around here.
Amazon huh. I hope it doesn't sucks like Rings of Power.
I don't know why this isn't a film for the cinema?
I almost think that God of War would make a better movie than a TV show - especially if it’s taking its inspiration more from the recent games than the older ones - as strip out the gameplay, there isn’t a huge amount of real story in it, whilst the huge set pieces would be better suited to a big-screen budget - they could even try to keep to the whole ‘one take’ conceit too. Things like The Last of Us and Fallout are already kind of episodic in their structure, which makes them a better fit for TV and streaming etc, whereas God of War should just (imo) lean more into its action and the spectacle…
Instead of investing a ton in a show that has a very high chance to fail (it's Amazon not HBO...), they'd better make a new game.
Tackling the interim period between Greece and the nordic lands would be super... And a setting in Egypt or the Maya region could work wonders if handled properly.
Franchise fatigue is a very real thing, and the relentless cross-pollination of media only adds to it.
This is the right call. If you can't do it properly, try again, and if you still can't don't do it at all.
Well woopdydoo...
We all know what happened with LOTR. Great. Much excitement
@MrPeanutbutterz 100% this.
@Weebleman My man. It does another thing to me as well - it reminds me that I am a consumer there to be tapped for every red cent possible.
Like say something like Shadow of the Colossus, it's a game that was sold to make a profit. But that was it. The whole thing is effectively self-contained and we only really heard from it once (then a massively improved remake over a decade later). You can go a very long time without being reminded of its existence.
Then there's something like Marvel (not that I'm a fan, but it's the perfect example). Any time I see one of their bajillion products somewhere they may as well have a sign that says "consume Marvel, enter bank details here".
I got a similar feeling being in a record shop recently as they had The Last of Us soundtrack on the shelf, as was the Blu-ray. As was the collection of utterly insipid Funko Pops.
Never rush something that’s great
Ugh...
It's gonna have the same problems, as most modern TV-shows.
5% action, and 95% drama.
"Can't wait" for Kratos having soap opera moments.
Just give us a videogame reboot, with old-school Kratos, back in Greece.
No more over the shoulder camera, and boring drama.
It seems like Sony and Amazon can't get things running smoothly for God of War as Microsoft and Amazon prepares for another great season of Fallout
@HotGoomba Oh, I thought it was funny, wasn't bothered a bit.
@Steel76 the "boring drama" has performed much better than the old games, so don't hold your breath.
@Major_Player are you conveniently forgetting a little thing called The Last of Us on HBO?
@naruball: While the last of Us is a good show, it's obvious more people have watched Fallout...Fallout's popularity exploded far greater on everything ever since and thanks to the fact that Amazon's producers took liberties in making the TV show unique and very fun to watch instead of replaying the game's story step by step like HBO has done with the Last of US.
@naruball Well, in my experience HBO is much more talented with TV shows than Amazon is, so makes sense.
@Americansamurai1 oh that's awesome, glad it's getting a s2
@RawnDawn definitely agree. Season 1 was a lot of fun.
Like Uncharted it will take time to pull it off. The set pieces in GOW 2018/Rag didn't look that impressive to me as GOW 2 & 3 of the past to be honest. But whatever they are different games, different worlds, different scale, different recycling bosses and ok ways to put the games in the 'modern skill trees, quests and other nonsense' era we are in that not all games need to be. It's for that audience not me and that's totally fine.
If the same story as the games that's understandable, the only reason I question it is because unlike Last of Us there is 2 eras of GOW after all.
Not something I myself care to watch unless they put a good spin on the mix between old and new, how he got to be that way, also if we see the Mother in either then to me I always assumed Atreus was the son to the 2nd wife Krato had or whatever the case as that's never explored it's just Dad that has to deal with son the adventure happens as well.
I always assumed he had a daughter/first wife or whatever status it was. Then a had the child and in Aterus case had the 2nd one as GOW 2018/R don't explore that. They explore he has a past, he has a son now, they deal with Norse stuff but they don't explain or explore his brother in the PSP titles, they don't focus on the other past stuff because the focus is on the new stuff and that's totally fine. Or the he has a past and how he works with that which sure is a fair mix of themes to cover sure besides the Blades and other references.
So do we see the Mother? Or is it just a adaptation to be as close as possible and not fill in gaps the games don't show? That's the kind of questions I'd have about this adaptation really as other mediums for movies/tv shows and books do fill in gaps the gaps won't after all.
Not ONLY the new GOW but eh. For those that want to watch, for new audiences to come in and see it/play the games whatever percentage that is sure by all means.
I'm passing on this one it's not for me.
Is that fair enough feedback to comment on an article? Sigh.
Still waiting on news for Medievil's adaptation. That series still has very little.
I feel like God of War would work better as a film franchise. I can’t even fathom the budget needed to adapt it meaningfully for TV. 🤑
And you just know every episode will have a flashback that will ofcourse relate to the current teaching of his kid.
@NEStalgia if it was any other culture (outside Europe) it would be a very very BIG issue.
If they're going to use and exploit my people's stories and creations for profit they can at least employ a Greek or Greek decendant to play Kratos.
But I don't expect that type of consistency from Hollywood.
@GreatAuk Yeah, I kind of do get that, but considering the story arc he's on now doesn't even bother remembering Greece exists it feels more pure general fantasy than a real Greek mythos rooted adventure since 2018. The games barely acknowledge his origins. Ironically Ubisoft at least got that relatively solidly with Odyssey and on the mythology side, Fenyx.
I think only PS2 oldies actually remember Kratos is supposed to be Greek at all!
These tv shows are taking creative thinking away from the gaming departments and also making these franchises very dependent on sequels.
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