The hot new thing in TV right now is video games. Every high-end cable channel and streaming service has at least one series based on a gaming franchise in development. You’d think given gaming’s enormous popularity that television would have noticed they could turn games into big-budget shows earlier. But apparently not! It’s a very recent phenomenon after decades of trying (and almost entirely failing) to turn games into movies.
Some of the recent properties snatched up by Hollywood for TV adaptations include Twisted Metal, which is coming to Peacock and starring Anthony Mackie, The Last of Us, with Pedro Pascal over on HBO, a new Resident Evil show on Netflix, and Halo on Paramount+. Not to be outdone, Amazon, which already also has a Fallout show in development, is now said to be in talks to make a God of War series as well.
According to Deadline, Prime Video is “in negotiations” for the show from Sony, which would be produced by The Expanse’s Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby. The popular games follow the warrior Kratos as he seeks revenge against the Greek gods for the death of his family. There have been eight games in total on various PlayStation consoles, with a new one expected later this year. Most of the God of Wars released so far have been well-reviewed best-sellers; the franchise is among Sony’s most popular.
They are also exceedingly violent games, with Kratos gaining godly power to use against the gods and other mythical enemies, who he slices up with various deadly weapons like giant blades attached to the ends of two chains he wraps around his arms. A faithful adaptation would have to be one of the more violent shows anywhere on television. But maybe that’s exactly why Amazon wants it.
