Posted in: Amazon Studios, Games, TV | Tagged: God of War

God of War Creator No Fan of First Look at Hurst/Kratos, Vinson/Atreus

God of War's David Jaffe is no fan of that series image released by Prime Video, noting that Kratos looks like he's "s****ing in the woods."

If Sony Pictures TV, Amazon MGM Studios, and Showrunner Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica, Outlander, For All Mankind) were looking to start an online conversation about their God of War series, releasing an early look at Ryan Hurst and Callum Vinson as Kratos and Atreus, respectively, definitely accomplished that goal. With production on the live-action series in its early stages, we actually thought the image was pretty strong – with the understanding that things will look more definitive as production rolls on. Unfortunately, not everyone is a big fan of what they saw (you can check it out below), with David Jaffe, creator of the video game franchise, making it clear in a YouTube reaction video that he thought it was a "dumb fucking image."

"I'm sure everybody's trying real hard, [but] it's so dumb," Jaffe shared (you can check it out above). "But let's be incredibly clear, okay? Two things can be true. This can be a terrible image, and it is. It's so bad in so many ways, which we'll talk about in a moment. And Ron Moore is awesome, who is the showrunner… This guy is a juggernaut of a talented fellow. I have absolutely no doubt it is going to be a good show." From there, Jaffe would make his case for why the image didn't work.

"Kratos in this pose with this expression, not the guy's face, but this expression, he just looks stupid. If you're going to reveal, to most people, a brand new character that you hope is going to carry your series, for the first time, and they've never really seen this before, and this is the way you introduce them?" Jaffe noted. "Maybe that's conscious. Maybe they're like, 'Well, what we really want to focus on is the father-son story. And if we focus on him being like, Spartan rage, and all that, maybe people are like, 'I don't want to watch that show." Ok maybe. But then, at that point, could you find a picture that doesn't look like he's shitting in the woods? Cause that's what the picture looks like."

During a March 2025 episode of Katee Sackhoff's The Sackhoff Show podcast, Sackhoff and Moore discussed a wide range of personal and professional topics. At the end of their conversation, as Sackhoff was getting ready to sign off, she asked Moore for an update on what he's working on – and that's where we got some interesting intel on the God of War series. "I'm working on an adaptation of… there's a video game called 'God of War'… that Amazon has ordered, you know, two seasons of and they have asked me to come in. So I'm literally in the writers' room and working on that. That's my new thing; that's such a daunting property." From there, Moore and Sackhoff discuss Moore not being a gamer and their respective past experiences with video games.

The series follows father and son Kratos and Atreus as they embark on a journey to spread the ashes of their wife and mother, Faye. Through their adventures, Kratos tries to teach his son to be a better god, while Atreus tries to teach his father how to be a better human. Joining Hurst and Vinson are Mandy Patinkin as Odin, Ed Skrein as Baldur, Max Parker as Heimdall, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Thor, Teresa Palmer as Sif, Alastair Duncan as Mimir, Jeff Gulka as Sindri, and Danny Woodburn as Brok.

Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica, Outlander) serves as showrunner, executive producer, and writer of God of War. Additional executive producers include Maril Davis, Cory Barlog, Naren Shankar, Matthew Graham, Asad Qizilbash, Jeff Ketcham, Hermen Hulst, Roy Lee, and Brad Van Arragon. Joe Menosky, Marc Bernardin, Tania Lotia, and Ben McGinnis serve as co-executive producers on the series. Emmy Award-winning director Frederick E.O. Toye (Shōgun, The Boys, Fallout) has also signed on to direct the series' first two episodes. The upcoming streaming series has been given a green light for two seasons.

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