It’s not a new thing to note that Amazon seems almost perpetually stuck in a game of catch-up when it comes to its Prime Video offerings. Even The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power—easily the most successful show in the streaming library’s offerings—came as a result of a multi-year plan to replicate the success of HBO’s Game Of Thrones. (Arriving, with no small irony, almost the same week as HBO’s own efforts to recreate that particular swords-and-sorcery magic.)
Now—as HBO gears up for the release of The Last Of Us, Craig Mazin’s big-budget adaptation of the critical video game darling of the same name—Amazon has announced that, well, it’s gonna do that, too: Per Variety, Bezos’ Boys have announced that they’re moving forward with a TV adaptation of Santa Monica Studios’ celebrated God Of War games.
We actually first wrote about this idea back in March, when Amazon first started sniffing around at the idea of bringing the voyage of Kratos, God Of War, and his son Atreus, Boy Of War, to the small screen. Now the show has been officially picked up to series, with Wheel Of Time’s Rafe Judkins serving as showrunner. (As much as “getting a full series order” means anything in these days of increasingly common take-backs on show orders, at least.)
The God Of War games are prime fodder for this sort of treatment, admittedly: Building on the earlier series of the action-adventure games of the same name from the PlayStation 2 and 3 eras, the game told an emotionally affecting story about family bonds and redemption, with a sequel, Ragnarok, bringing the series to a satisfying conclusion last month. Cory Barlog, creative director at Santa Monica, will serve as an executive producer on the show.
Gaming adaptations are becoming increasingly common of late: In addition to The Last Of Us (which debuts on January 15), Peacock is gearing up for a very weird-sounding adaptation of the Twisted Metal games, while Amazon is also developing a Fallout series with Walton Goggins in a starring role.
