Image of TV series God of War: Devastating verdict from video game creator

No sooner had the first image from Amazon Prime's "God of War" series been released than criticism began pouring in from the creator of the video game. In a recent video on his YouTube channel, David Jaffe finds nothing good to say about the photo showing Ryan Hurst as the protagonist Kratos and Callum Vinson as Kratos' son Atreus. In the photo, the two appear to be in a forest. Armed with a bow and arrow, little Atreus is about to take a shot while Kratos watches his son.

Jaffe has a problem with the way Kratos looks in the picture. "Kratos in this pose with this expression, not the guy's face, but this expression, he just looks stupid," complains the "God of War" creator. "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?"

He then goes on to explain what bothers him about it:

"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."

High praise for showrunner Ronald D. Moore

Despite his harsh criticism of the image, Jaffe makes it clear that he believes in the quality of the upcoming series. This is apparently mainly due to the creator of the series adaptation, whom he praises effusively. "But let's be incredibly clear, okay? Two things can be true. This can be a terrible image, and it is," he emphasizes, adding:

"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."

Ronald D. Moore is indeed a big name in genre television. Back in the 1990s, he distinguished himself as one of the most important and best screenwriters of the "Star Trek" franchise. Especially in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," he repeatedly provided highlights with the episodes he wrote. With his highly acclaimed reboot of the science fiction series "Battlestar Galactica", he proved his qualities as a series creator and showrunner in the 2000s. His current sci-fi series "For All Mankind" is also being celebrated by critics. So it's no wonder that David Jaffe has great confidence in Moore.

God of War series based on 2018 video game

Amazon also seems to have high hopes for "God of War." Based on the video game of the same name, the series has already been greenlit for a second season before the first season has even premiered. The series focuses on the father-son relationship between Kratos and Atreus. Together, the two embark on a journey to scatter the ashes of Kratos' deceased wife and Atreus' mother, Faye. In addition to Ryan Hurst and Callum Vinson, numerous other cast members have already been announced, including Mandy Patinkin as Odin, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Thor, Max Parker as Heimdall, Alastair Duncan as Mimir, Danny Woodburn and Jeff Gulka as the brothers Brok and Sindri, and Ed Skrein as Baldur.

The success story of the "God of War" games began over 20 years ago. The first game in the series was released in 2005 for the PlayStation 2. Even then, the plot focused on the Spartan warrior Kratos, who is tasked with destroying the god of war, Ares. After several sequels released over the years, the series was relaunched in 2018. "God of War" for PlayStation 4 focused primarily on the relationship between Kratos and Atreus. The creators of the Amazon series apparently took inspiration from the story of Faye's ashes told in the game.

Production of the series has already begun. However, it is not yet clear when "God of War" will launch on Amazon Prime. What is known, however, is that the first season will comprise ten episodes.