God of War TV Series Coming to Amazon

Television

Kratos is going to slay deities in a different medium. Deadline exclusively reports that a TV series based on God of War is coming to Amazon Prime Video. According to Deadline, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, the creators of Amazon’s The Expanse, and Rafe Judkins, showrunner for The Wheel of Time, will be the creative forces behind God of War, with Sony Pictures Television and PlayStation Productions producing, presumably alongside Amazon. There’s no word on any writers, actors, or a release timeframe. The God of War series follows Kratos, a Spartan soldier who seeks vengeance against Greek God Ares following the death of his family, and then the rest of the Olympian pantheon when they won’t leave him alone (and, eventually, the Norse Gods in the fourth game – or the seventh, depending on which ones you count). One imagines the series will at least begin with the story of the first game, God of War, but as it’s a video game adaptation, it’s just as likely Kratos will be a harried businesswoman looking to prove herself to the uptight board of directors at her company while juggling a wacky romance with the cute delivery boy from the water bottle supply truck. (Did somebody say Kate Hudson? Because somebody should probably say Kate Hudson.)

I’m completely unenthused about this. I love the God of War games (the main ones, which are the only ones I’ve played), and Kratos is a good character whose tortured past, twisted morality, and attempts at redemption make for a fascinating ongoing storyline. But we’ve already got that; the games tell his story perfectly well, and they’re still ongoing, with God of War: Ragnarok due out later this year. Making the jump to Norse Mythology after he left no Greek Gods standing was a genius move because it effectively opens Kratos’ world to any myth the producers would like to explore – or, in this case, decimate piece by piece in the bloodiest fashion possible. In other words, the series could go on for a very long time, and we won’t want for Kratos action as long as the games sell. We don’t need a TV show to bring to life some bastardized version of the God of War saga. And the tragic history of video game adaptations suggests “bastardized” is the right word; they have an awful track record, and the recent output hasn’t gotten much better. As for Amazon, they’re hit and miss with adaptations; for every Reacher that gets the source material, there’s a Jack Ryan that just slaps some familiar names onto whatever the showrunners feel like doing that week. Having the guy behind the fan-hated Wheel of Time doesn’t do much to calm the nerves. In the plus column, however, while I haven’t seen The Expanse, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby have worked on some good stuff, notably Iron Man and Children of Men. So, who knows? But I think it’s better to go into this with below-sea-level expectations and maybe be pleasantly surprised.

Are you looking forward to the God of War TV show? Have you played the video games? What are the chances of those sex-scene interludes making the jump to television? Let us know in the comments, and stay tuned to Geeks + Gamers for more TV news!