‘God of War’ Series Ordered at Amazon, ‘Children of Men’ Writers Attached
Less than a year after it was announced to be in development, Amazon’s live-action God of War series is officially moving forward.
While the bit of news doesn’t come off as a surprise, it must be underlined how fast the project has progressed through the early stages, signaling that both PlayStation Productions and Amazon are eager to enter full-blown pre-production as soon as possible. Here’s the (brief) official announcement through Prime Video’s Twitter account:
God of War is coming. pic.twitter.com/GzbyutRO2k
— Prime Video (@PrimeVideo) December 14, 2022
Initially announced back in March, God of War joins a packed slate of live-action series and films which aim to make PlayStation’s biggest IPs even more famous than they already are by reaching out to non-gamer audiences. Next in line is HBO’s The Last of Us, which is set to arrive in just one month. On the film side, Gran Turismo has already been shooting for several weeks with Neill Blomkamp at the driving wheel.
Vernon Sanders, head of global television at Amazon Studios, said in a statement:
“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… We are honored to share in the adventure of exploring the God of War mythology in such a momentous way with Sony Pictures Television, PlayStation Productions and [game developer] Santa Monica Studio.”
PlayStation Productions head Asad Qizilbash added:
“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.”
The Wheel of Time‘s Rafe Judkins will serve as showrunner on the long-awaited adaptation, and Oscar nominees Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby (Children of Men, The Expanse) are writing and executive producing alongside Judkins. Santa Monica Studio creative director Cory Barlog is involved as an executive producer too. It also appears that the series will focus on the recent Norse saga of the action-adventure game franchise — comprised of 2018’s God of War and the just-released God of War: Ragnarok — instead of telling Kratos’ journey from the very beginning. That being said, with the translation into a medium such as TV probably needing several changes to the games’ structure, flashbacks to the main character’s past in Ancient Greece could be on the table.
God of War (2018) was one of the most awarded and critically acclaimed video games of the past decade, and this year’s Ragnarok is following in its footsteps, winning six statuettes at last week’s Game Awards and appearing in most “Best Games of 2022” lists. It also has broken the record of the fastest-selling PlayStation exclusive ever, so a shining future for the long-running franchise is in the cards.
Francisco J. Ruiz is that guy who has watched Jurassic Park a thousand times and loves Star Wars. His hunger for movies is only matched by his love for video games. He graduated in English Studies from the University of Malaga, in Spain. As he keeps writing about what he enjoys (and doesn’t) for websites all over, he’s continuing his studies.
