The adaptation of the live-action series God of War has officially launched at Prime Video. Reports about the series surfaced in March, with Amazon keen to acquire the rights to make a television adaptation, based on the critically acclaimed franchise. The Wheel of Time’s Rafe Judkins, who also co-wrote the Uncharted movie for Sony, will serve as showrunner for the upcoming series. Meanwhile, The Expanse creators Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby are producing and writing God of War for Amazon. While previously there was no information on which timeline the series would be adapted from – Ancient Greek Mythology or New Norse Mythology – it is now revealed that the project will follow the story beats of the 2018’s award-winning reboot version – the one with the bearded Kratos.

“God of the war is a compelling character-driven franchise that we believe will captivate our global customers as much with its expansive and immersive worlds as it does with its rich storytelling,” Vernon Sanders, head of global television at Amazon Studios, told The Hollywood Reporter. “We are honored to share the adventure of exploring the mythology of God of War in such a momentous way with Sony Pictures Television, PlayStation Productions and [developer] Santa Monica studio.

The critically acclaimed 2018 game follows Kratos, the god of war, who has gone into exile from his bloody past, after years of back and forth against the gods of Olympus in ancient Greece. He now resides in the northern realm of Midgard, reeling from the pain of the death of his beloved wife, and embarks on a treacherous journey to scatter her ashes from the highest peak of the nine realms. Joining him in the task is his estranged son Atreus, who must learn to survive in an unforgivable world, fight gods and monsters of all kinds, and forge a strong bond with his father. and vice versa.

“God of the war is one of PlayStation’s most award-winning video games, so we’re thrilled 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.” PlayStation Productions head Asad Qizilbash said in a prepared statement. God of the war joins the ever-growing list of first-party PlayStation titles slated for live-action adaptation, among the likes of a Horizon Zero Dawn series, helmed by The Umbrella Academy creator Steve Blackman, and upcoming The Last of Us series, premiering January 16 on Disney+ Hotstar in India.

Live-action video game adaptations have always been the subject of controversy, with the latest Uncharted film directed by Tom Holland receiving negative reception from critics. Sure, the film managed to gross $401.7 million (about Rs 3,324 crore) at the global box office, but it watered down a lot of the action set pieces – for which the series is lauded – and the played it safe with poor narrative choices that felt off for the main characters. The only good examples in recent memory are Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and Arcane – both from Netflix – the former simply using the futuristic universe as the basis for telling a unique story, separate from the CD Projekt Red video game.

Elsewhere, the sequel to God of War (2018), God of War Ragnarök won six trophies at The Game Awards 2022, held last week, including one for Best Performance, which Christopher Judge collected. Of course, with the announcement of the TV series, fans are bound to come up with casting choices they think are appropriate, with even Cory Barlog, director of the first game, joining in on the fun – jokingly pretending to cast Chris Pratt as the brutal Kratos. The latter voices Mario in the upcoming The Super Mario Bros. movie. for Universal Pictures.

There’s plenty more in store for us from PlayStation Productions, starting with the David Harbour-directed Gran Turismo movie (Stranger Things), which will be released in August next year. Then there are film adaptations for the zombie-slaying survivor game Days Gone and Gravity Rush, the character-based sci-fi adventure with gravity-defying superpowers.

Currently, there is no release window for Amazon Prime Video’s God of War series.