Amazon and Sony are currently in negotiations to develop a live-action television series based on the epic PlayStation franchise God of War, according to an exclusive report from Deadline.
The God of War TV show is reportedly being developed by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, creators and executive producers of The Expanse, along with Rafe Judkins, executive producer and showrunner of The Wheel of Time.
It’s expected that the God of War series will act as the latest collaboration between Sony Pictures Television and PlayStation Productions, which are currently working together on HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation and Peacock’s newly announced Twisted Metal series.
Analysis: what to expect from the God of War TV show
Originally set in Ancient Greece, the mythology-based God of War video game series launched on PlayStation 2 back in 2005. It followed Kratos, a Spartan warrior on a quest for bloody revenge after being tricked into killing his own family by the Greek god of war Ares.
After a run of hugely successful games, the series would eventually take a hard turn away from Greek mythology in 2018, kicking off a new era of the God of War franchise that saw Kratos take another stab at fatherhood in a Norse setting, while trading Zeus for Odin in the process.
The game sees Kratos and his young son Atreus set out on a journey to spread the ashes of Kratos’ recently deceased wife and Atreus’ mother at the highest peak of the nine realms.
Although Kratos’ story began in Ancient Greece, it’s our opinion that Amazon’s TV adaptation of God of War will more than likely choose to explore Kratos’ time in the Norse wilds for a number of reasons.
As great as the original games were, Kratos transformed from a rage-fueled killing machine into a more fully realized character with 2018’s God of War, showing depths of emotion that the original games never even attempted to reach.
This is due in large part to the dramatically potent relationship between Kratos and his young son Atreus, which we think would translate extremely well to a television series.
We also believe a Norse setting would be more realistic from a logistical and budgetary standpoint, requiring far less resources in terms of set design and visual effects than if the show were set in Ancient Greece. If anything, we imagine the show would rather just visit Kratos’ first era through flashbacks.
Of course, this is all speculation from our side at this point. We won’t know for sure until the series is officially announced by Amazon, which we imagine will occur any day now.
