After their success with the Fallout series, Amazon is now prepping to bring another big property to the small screen with God of War.
Amazon has called in Battlestar Galactica showrunner Ron Moore to tackle the development of the adaptation. Still, some fans are skeptical about his recent admission that he can’t get into the game.
“I’ve Tried. I’m Not a Gamer.”
In a recent interview with Katee Sackhoff on her podcast, Moore revealed that he was working on God of War for Amazon and that the series has been greenlit for two seasons. He explains, “Right now I’m working on an adaptation of this video game called God of War. It’s a big title in the gaming world that Amazon has ordered two seasons of. And they’ve asked me to come in, so I’m literally in the writer’s room working on that. That’s my new thing.”
While that seems all fine and dandy, Moore then added, “And I’m not a gamer, so it’s even more like, ‘Okay, I’ve never done this before.’”
While some fans had already taken this as a red flag for the series, Sackhoff tried to salvage the admission by asking Moore if he even tried, to which he continues, “I’ve tried. I’m not a gamer. I’d take a stab at it, but I don’t know— I grew up in the arcade era where you go down and put your quarters in, bang on the buttons—meanwhile my kids can do it like it’s nothing. My wife can do it… [she] plays Skyrim.”
Shows by Gamers vs Non-Gamers
Many fans are getting concerned since they usually want a creative behind the show to be passionate about their work. Fallout and The Last of Us managed to work because the showrunners also immersed themselves fully into the games, but how do they expect Moore to deliver something that feels like God of War if he hasn’t played it?
On the other hand, just being a fan of the game doesn’t mean that the show will be great, either. Director Duncan Jones was obviously into Warcraft when he made the movie, but just adding Easter Eggs in the film for gamers doesn’t mean that the rest of the general audience will buy into the world.
A fundamental understanding of both the TV and gaming mediums is essential, and it often helps when the original game's director is involved in the adaptation. It’s unclear how involved Cory Barlog is for God of War, but he is an executive producer.
No release date has been set for the God of War series, but it could be released in the next few years, as no update has been made about the cast.
In the meantime, God of War is available for PlayStation.