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God of War TV Series is "Starting From Scratch" as Executive Producers Leave

Draugoth

Gold Member
God-of-War.jpg

EXCLUSIVE: Sony Pictures TV and Amazon MGM Studios are staging a do-over on God of War, the series for Prime Video that’s based on PlayStation‘s hugely popular ancient mythology-themed video game.


Deadline has learned that showrunner/executive producer Rafe Judkins, along with EPs Hawk Ostby and Mark Fergus, have left the project after completing multiple scripts for the first season. The studios are apparently looking to move in a different creative direction, though one source told Deadline the trio’s scripts were praised by both Sony and Prime.


Sony and Amazon’s plan is to hire a whole new writers room for the series that remains an important asset for Prime. Judkins is a major player for the streamer, too; he’s the showrunner on Wheel of Time. Judkins is also under an overall deal with Sony, where he will continue to focus on new development.

Source
 

Robb

Gold Member
Doesn’t sound too bad if it’s ‘just’ about the scrip and direction. I was thinking maybe they’d been shooting some stuff as well.

I just hope it stays true to the source material and has people who actually care and know a lot about the franchise working on it. More Fallout, less Halo.
 

ItJustWorks

Member
Lol and actual talented director could do something special with the Greek saga.

But seeing as they need the story basically played out for them, they are going Norse.

Imagine what prime Peter Jackson would do with the Greek saga.
 

Matt_Fox

Member
This is one of those few occasions where you'd say... bring in Zack Snyder.

Doing this in a heavily stylized form like 300 could work. It'd have to be based on the original God Of War trilogy though with younger Kratos.

Sad dad Kratos and California-kid Scrappy Do would be awful.
 

Mibu no ookami

Demoted Member® Pro™
Great news. You know Sony doesn't want to fuck this up. Massively important that they get this right out of the gate. Amazon probably feels the same after the success of Fallout. I'm not surprised to hear it either. We still hadn't gotten a cast set here. Rafe Judkins did a terrible job with Uncharted. Was surprised to see him coming back here. Sony needs to learn from Marvel and make sure they keep getting better writers and directors on their projects. That's why Phase 2 was better than Phase 1 and Phase 3 was better than Phase 2. It's also why Phase 4 was worse than Phase 3.

You have to decide whether to do Greek Saga, Norse Saga, or interlace of both. That's a difficult task.

I hope the rumors of remasters aren't true and they are remaking the Greek games. Remasters won't cut it.

Not sure there is an IP with more potential for Sony right now than God of War.

Get it right. Go get someone like Michael Hirst (Vikings), Stephen Butchard (The Last Kingdom), or my top pick which would be Stephen DeKnight (Spartacus, Daredevil).
 

Mibu no ookami

Demoted Member® Pro™
This is one of those few occasions where you'd say... bring in Zack Snyder.

Doing this in a heavily stylized form like 300 could work. It'd have to be based on the original God Of War trilogy though with younger Kratos.

Sad dad Kratos and California-kid Scrappy Do would be awful.

Take a look at my suggestions. I think they're way better than Zack Snyder. Snyder has never done a live action tv show and really struggles with long form story telling. If you want something with multiple seasons, Snyder is not your guy.

God of War is a really hard show to do successfully. The games don't have a ton of characters and they weren't built around story.

Leonidas is someone you want to root for immediately. Kratos is not. You have to humanize him in order for people to want to watch him. Your show would just be a darker version of Hercules from the 90s.
 

Mibu no ookami

Demoted Member® Pro™
Jason Mamoa may have made a great choice for Kratos, but I think it's a bit too on the nose now. You never know though.

Joe Manganiello is an option though not a great one.

My choice for Kratos would be Jon Bernthal.
 
Great news. You know Sony doesn't want to fuck this up. Massively important that they get this right out of the gate. would be Stephen DeKnight (Spartacus, Daredevil).


Yeah, and that's why they bring in the showrunner of the Wheel of Time, one of the most spectacular failures out there.

It's gonna be shit. There's zero chances, literal zero, that this doesn't become a cringefest with Californians cosplaying as ancient greeks.
 

Neon Xenon

Member
Three Executive Producers leaving a show can't be a good sign, though there is the mention that the scripts were apparently praised by both Sony and Prime.

I don't think I've ever seen a situation where this many EPs left a show. Makes me really curious about what led to this.

It'll be in the style of "Married with children" but Kratos will be Al Bundy
But this actually sounds like fun.

 
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Mibu no ookami

Demoted Member® Pro™
Yeah, and that's why they bring in the showrunner of the Wheel of Time, one of the most spectacular failures out there.

It's gonna be shit. There's zero chances, literal zero, that this doesn't become a cringefest with Californians cosplaying as ancient greeks.

Judkins made a lot of sense. He'd already worked with Amazon and PlayStation Productions. And despite what you might think Wheel of Time was pretty successful.

I think they're making the right choice by going in a different direction though. Again, see my suggestions.

Jon Bernthal and Steve DeKnight pairing up again... would be excellent.
 

hinch7

Member
'Rafe Judkins.... he’s the showrunner on Wheel of Time' - Well thats one train wreck avoided.

Don't have much faith in this series, however. Happy to be proven wrong though. Amazon did do the Fallout series justice.
 
The Wheel of Time is probably one of the worst adaptations i've ever seen.

Absolutely f**king butchered.

First, the casting came out and looked like a college brochure.

Then the show comes out, and ten minutes into the first episode, I knew it was going to be garbage from the wooden acting alone.

Then I discovered that the showrunner--same guy who just left this God of War show--was a pompous as$hole who thought he was a better writer than Robert Jordan.
 
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