When Amazon parted ways with the showrunners of its upcoming video game adaptation God of War, we assumed the worst. But now, the opposite has happened. Ronald D. Moore, one of the main forces behind fantastic shows like Battlestar Galactica, For All Mankind, and Outlander has boarded as writer, producer, and showrunner, which is great news for a show with huge potential.
Deadline broke the news of Moore’s involvement, which comes days after executive producers Rafe Judkins, Hawk Ostby, and Mark Fergus left the show after two and a half years of work. Reportedly, Amazon wanted to go in a new direction, which seems wild after TWO AND A HALF YEARS. But Moore so quickly swooping in certainly suggests a plan is in place.
God of War, based on the hit Santa Monica Studios franchise, has been around since 2005. It’s spawned multiple games on multiple consoles, many of which center on Kratos, a fierce warrior who does battle with the Gods. It saw a resurgence in 2018 with a new version on PlayStation 4 and had another massive hit in 2022 with its sequel, God of War: Ragnarok. That’s when Amazon came on board and, at the time, the streamer was very excited.
“The God of War is a compelling, character-driven franchise that we believe will captivate our global customers as much with its expansive and immersive worlds as its rich storytelling,” Vernon Sanders, head of global television at Amazon Studios, said in 2022. “We are honored to share in the adventure of exploring the God of War mythology in such a momentous way with Sony Pictures Television, PlayStation Productions, and Santa Monica Studio.”
Moore had some of his biggest successes with Sony before he left the company—and earlier this year, he signed again with the studio. God of War is his first project under that deal and it’ll be interesting to see what direction he takes with the show. Will he even look at any of the work Judkins, Ostby, and Fergus did? Or will it be a page one reset? We don’t know.
What we do know is that Amazon has had a good amount of success in both the fantasy and video game spaces. Earlier this year, its adaptation of Fallout debuted to rave reviews from critics and fans. And, of course, it’s also the streamer behind The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, The Wheel of Time, and more. If any streamer has what it takes to turn a game like God of War into a hit, it has and will continue to be Amazon. And few showrunners are as well-equipped in that sci-fi fantasy genre space to live up to the task as Moore.
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