3 Things The God of War TV Show Needs To Get Right

By some point in time, it’s likely that just about EVERY video game will have a TV/Movie adaptation from Hollywood. While some recent examples (such as Fallout and the Sonic movies) have been relatively popular, there are certainly a lot of failed attempts at bringing our favorite games to the big screen. Some may even call these attempts unnecessary. However, if there is one franchise that I believe deserves a film adaptation, it would be the God of War series. Although I admittedly have still not played the original trilogy, GOW: Ragnarok is currently one of my favorite single-player games from the modern PS generations! Today, I’ll go over some important points that I hope the upcoming show achieves.

REQUEST ONE: AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF KRATOS’S PAST

This might sound hypocritical (as I just stated, I have yet to play the original trilogy), but it is common knowledge that Kratos’s origins are integral to his character. The show is reportedly set to start with the story of GOW 2018, with castings for Thor and Baldur already underway. Although 2018 was a starting point in the series for many people (including myself), I believe this is a mistake for a show based on the franchise. Kratos’s character arc from the original games to the “soft reboots” is key to contextualizing many of the events in the newer duology. If the show’s writers simply try to ignore Kratos’s past, the show would suffer by losing some of the nuance that the game had. Personally, I believe the ideal option is to sprinkle in flashbacks of young Kratos in Greece throughout the show to further flesh out his character.

REQUEST TWO: REMOVAL OF FILLER

As I said before, GOW Ragnarok is one of my favorite story games of the PS4-PS5 generations. However, even I can admit neither it nor 2018 is perfect. While they aren’t major issues in the plotline, I believe there are certain plot aspects that would work better if they were fleshed out more or scrapped altogether. In Ragnarok specifically, I believe parts such as Angrboda and Atreus’s adventures or Kratos meeting the Norns are filler sections. However, even these sections have the benefit of fun and interactive gameplay. On the other hand, I don’t think these sequences would work well in a TV show. Honestly, the Angrboda and Atreus section might work better in an Atreus spin-off show. As for the Norns sequence, it felt conceptually cool but too short to be ultimately memorable. I would hope these aspects would be considered by the writers of the show.

REQUEST THREE: A DIRECTOR WHO CARES ABOUT THE GAMES

This is probably common sense to a lot of people. Still, it’s quite disappointing how many game adaptations are released by directors who disregard or ignore the source material simply because of the medium it originated in. In my opinion, the Halo show had the potential to be one of the biggest sci-fi shows of the decade. However, because of mismanagement and a director who openly admits he ignored playing the games, the show ultimately failed, which led to its cancellation. I have hope that a God of War show will go smoothly under Sony’s leadership, but the amount of failed game adaptations from Hollywood unfortunately has me wary.