Here's Your First Look at the God of War TV Show

LOL Kratos looks like he is taking a dump in the forest. Tell me this is a joke!

I had no idea that they were already shooting! Looks decent I suppose… for as much as one picture can establish. True to the game at least.

This is the deer scene where kratos almost loses his temper. Going to be interesting how it does. If the show sticks the landing, the game sales are going to skyrocket.

Is that hasbullah

Looking at the picture, they should have gotten some one older to play the boy.

Good thing it's Friday because for a second there I thought it was a Saturday Night Live sketch.

Hopefully it looks better in action. Looks very amateur and cosplay to me sadly.

I know the term "looks like AI" gets banded around way too much, but....

This reminds me of the days when my grandad would take me out hunting, when I was juat a wee nipper. He would strip to the waist and put his body paint on, and I'd know it was time to kill a deer.

He was getting quite confused by that stage, god bless him.

Looks a bit like amateur cosplay but always the first-looks tend to look that way, so far casting seems great, however writing will be the major test since they have to provide more context of Kratos’ Greek past, otherwise his character wouldn’t make sense.

I get that this sort of stuff expands their audiences, but for me it introduces franchise fatigue.

After the rubbish Ragnarok, and the detestable-looking Sons of Sparta (which is a mid-tier Metroidvania with a GoW skin slapped on top to shift more units at an inflatable price), the last thing I want is to watch the games being retold, minus the actually engaging part (you know, the gameplay).

I was day one on all God of War titles since I played the original PS2 game after launch, but the more of it I see, the more it's diluted down, and the less appealing it has become.

See also - something like Star Wars. Loved the original films, but detest the sight of the franchise now. The audience is always a money/engagement teat, but the trick is not to make them aware of that fact.

My god, just look at Kratos's skull cap to make him look bald. you can see the join. It looks awful.

They need to stop this nonsense

This is an SNL sketch about the show, right?

Edit: Also missed opportunity not having Hasbulla star as Atreus.

The problem with such realistic yet fantastical graphics in the game is that trying to replicate it in real life always looks a bit...off. Still, it depends how it all holds together in motion.

It's a shame the 'Avatar' method is so costly. That kind of approach would work better for this kind of thing.

Is this real? Isn't the arrow on the wrong side of the bow?

@DragonSlayer1759 I must be blind or you because I dont see that

This will be... a tax write-off. Expected, as it's a show produced by Amazon

Oh no lol. This looks like bad cosplay.

It’s hard enough to give live action Wolverine a haircut and costume that doesn’t look naff. Kratos is a ridiculous character with the complexion, facepaint and refusal to wear a jumper in Norway to try and make reality.

I think it looks good, but they definitely could have picked a moodier shot. I’m more bothered that it’s the wrong type of forest.

Not sure if this is the case for anyone else, but because of how many hours I’ve sunk into god of war 2018, ragnarok and the last of us, I’ve struggled with the tv shows. Joel and Ellie have been cast through the video games as have Kratos and Atreus - the performances in the games were outstanding as was the presentation - the VAs are the characters.

The tv shows always look and sound like odd parodies to my brain in comparison, it’s a sticking point I wasn’t able to break when I tried watching the last of us show. I’m getting that same feel from this shot for god of war - it’s almost like an uncanny valley thing.

Looks so wafty 😂

@get2sammyb I've seen promo stuff from events in Japan, where they've had someone in a lot of prosthetics (and practically in stilts) pull of old, Greek saga Kratos and make it look very effective... this ain't it, though!

From that picture it looks a lot better the the lady of us tv 📺 show.elle and Joel don't really look a like.especially elle.this look decent.word up son

I have faith in the casting way better than last of us casting

I hope if he uses the chains it isn’t just CGI. The axe shouldn’t be an issue (except the boomerang effect obviously) but I can see them ditching practical effects for the chains. That would be a shame.

Practical special effects > CGI

the games are already so cinematic and story focused. they don't lend themselves well to a live action adaptation because there is nothing left up to the imagination. the story has already been told in the best way possible. all of sony's live action adaptations are a fool's errand and don't need to exist...

@JB_Whiting AI would do a better job 😬

The pic looks like a dad and his son doing a cosplay shoot in the woods.

Of course, it may look different in motion lol.

Not a great look

@Deadhunter The arrow is on the correct side. It can vary depending on type of draw.

@BearsEatBeets Oh okay. Something just looks really off and I'm trying to pinpoint it.

@MrPeanutbutterz The rubbish Ragnarok?! Checks Metacritic 94/100 (141 critics) 8.3/10 (15,649 reviews)

The game isn't rubbish, you just didn't enjoy it.

@Supern0va my thoughts exactly. Stopped reading right after that part.

Kratos looks fine, atreus looks like a toddler, and his hair needs work, game atreus had a haircut with what looked like a blunt knife , this little dude looks like hes just stepped out of a salon.

Sometimes, being so faithful to the source material can be a detriment. I don't think this looks bad, but I do also worry about this feeling like a live action X-Men where everyone is wearing skintight spandex.

The lighting for this still photo is so flat and lifeless. Gotta assume it'll look quite different in action. Did I say assume? I meant hope.

Kratos looks like he has a dad bod, he should be ripped. Hard to tell with that pose though...

Oh my, this doesn't look very good! It looks like a BBC production of a children’s novel like Five Children and It or Narnia, very amateur dramatic. The kid, I don’t mean to be unkind, doesn’t look quite right, nor does Kratos. If most of the backgrounds are CGI this will just spoil any kind of illusion. I suspect this will make The Last Of Us TV series look like The Godfather.

Looks OK. Hope it turns out good. The boy does look a bit young though

As soon as I saw the photo my brain said "Opie!" (From Sons of Anarchy, not The Andy Griffith Show) so I hope that isn't a problem watching it.

As for it looking like a bad photo of Bigfoot in the woods...

Well honestly I'm not too worried about that. I've watched enough "making of" and "deleted scenes" videos to understand that they ALWAYS look like soap opera Cosplay. That's why it's called "movie magic" b/c it's incredible how good they xan make this stuff look in production compared to on set with your phone. I know this is a TV show not a movie but they'll do the work.

tldr; hopefully this "straight to DVD" looking still pales in comparison to what is hopefully a big budget production.

This will ultimately live or die based on the writing, and at the current time based on what we've seen in recent years, there is about a 20% chance this will be any good.

Keep your expectations low and u won't be disappointed comes to mind

Looks like floki from Vikings.

@rjejr This is exactly it. This is a flatly lit medium wide still. There’s absolutely nothing dynamic about it. There’s a chance this might take the one shot route too.

Didn't realize the voice of Mimir from the games was returning for the show. I like that. Makes sense since that will likely be a CGI/facial capture kinda deal.

@Supern0va Well I'm hardly expressing anything bar my own opinion here, now am I? But let's recap... awful story pacing, anticlimactic ending, repetitive and tedious puzzles, companions that solve them for you before you can even survey the room you just walked into, the "teen dating simulator" section with Angrboda...

94/100 my ass.

this looks like The BBC made it. which is about as big a criticism I can give. I mean that tellytubby of a kid is holding the damn arrow on the wrong side of the bow, and his dad has a beer gut. surely this isn't real???

That is bafflingly terrible. How much did this cost? It’s genuinely an SNL skit. The flat colour and atrocious framing just make it even less exciting.

Atreus looks like an Ewok 😂

@Zeke68

It really does. And now I can't unsee that, haha 🫡

It's crazy how people can say a show is going to be completely awful by one pic lol.

Give Amazon time. I mean this show is probably a year plus away, and they do make good shows. Plus some of the people directing and running the show are top tier.

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. Emmy Award-winning director Frederick E.O. Toye (Shōgun, Fallout) will direct the series’ first two episodes.

So I think the show will be fine. Also Callum Vinson did comment on the post saying he will bring honor to the role of Atreus so give the kid a chance.

Saying nothing about the show but that picture is AI.

Kids little finger is bigger than the other fingers for a start.

@Alps_Stranger That's a big thing with all these studios buying into making their own productions; good cinematography (ussually), but on the technical side, everything begins to look the same, with highly saturated colours for contrast, but overall flat. Read an interesting article recently from an ex-Holywood lighting technician about how the work isn't being done so much anymore- which is hardly surprising given the nature of streaming, and how mostly people only pay half a mind while they watch, so why bother with beautiful aesthetics, when all you need is dumbed down exposition dumps every 15 minutes. 🤷

If this was a fan photo having some fun then it would be fine. This is what millions of dollars can produce? Fan films can do better with almost nothing.

Last year at GamesCom Fan Zone:

Try to be pretty positive, but I thought this was AI. I'll keep an open mind, because many times the movie/show in motion is much better than pics. But damn.

It's just a picture and it's taken during filming...
I'd reserve judgement for the finished show, after all the filming goes through post-production.

Looks like AI, lol. Weird. But still excited.

@KillerBoy laughed way too hard at this

This looks off

Looks fine to me in my opinion. Not sure what everyone is expecting to be honest. If you want the characters to look exactly like they do in the game. Then it ain't gonna happen is it? Just play the games 😅

@KillerBoy 😂

@PsBoxSwitchOwner : yeah and look at kratos's hands ! AI slop for sure

Looks like cosplay 🤣
I'm getting spoof vibes from that picture.

@Metonymy You use a lot of lingo nobody else in this thread does so I'll assume you know what you are talking about and I was at least on the right track. So thanks. 😁

I still can't not see Opie though. And even if the special effects wizards can somehow make me not see him, I still think I'm going to hear him. 🤷‍♂️

https://youtu.be/RIjYLUEjbxw?si=U4t32QjGE64VF5Pb

Looks good enough. I mean nothing can look as 1:1 as Bella Ramsey as Ellie but this will have to do./s

Chuffing hell, start from scratch 😂

This looks kinda "E" rated xD

It looks...okay but could be better in motion and after they add some sfx.

Looks REALLY REALLY bad! Wtf are they thinking showing this?

Hahaha😅 just stop for the love of god
This game to TV bubble is on the verge of popping anyway, they had a few lucky hits but this was always a short lived fad (imo anyway)

Yeah, it’s extremely hard to pull off live action without looking like bad cosplay.
For example Artreus’ bow - the actor is a weak, very small little kid, so taking into account the scale of the bow, it translates to being maybe 30 centimetres long - a toy with no draw strength/power. The suspension of disbelief that a game or animation provides is hard to overcome.

Looking at this version of kratos, I cant imagine how the baldur fight scene will look or play out. Watching this kratos go flying over the house, then getting smashed through trees and into the mountainside. Watching kratos drop the giant boulder on top of baldur, etc. How are the more fantastical parts gonna look? His spartan rage, the trolls and draugrs, the world serpent. I'll watch the first episode, but they'll have to do a whole lot to keep me watching.

@Americansamurai1 I'd guess they're taking into account the gap between each season and how he'll age. If they picked a 14 year old now, he'd potentially be in his 20s by the time they get to the parts where it's relevant he's about 14 (like romance stuff). Basically he can age I to the role rgid way instead of out-aging it.

It's like with the One Piece live action show; if they ever get to, say, Thriller Bark then Luffy will be like 30 something when he's meant to be 17. If they miraculously get to more recent manga events, Garp's actor will be long dead and Luffy will be 60 or something.

The trees look okay

Not sure what to think its a but cosplay might turn out to be great though fallout is the gold standard for me incredible show Hope this is going to be good i mean the games are incredible god of war 2018 and ragnorak are 2 of the best games ever made in my opinion just wish the kid would disappear

@Matroska boy looks like he's 6 or 7 though, in the game he was much older. Even if it takes two years to film the next season, still don't think he'll age far enough unless they recast him for the next season

I don't like how this shot looks in general. The lighting and colors. Feels a bit flat like some modern movies/shows. Fallout is by far the best video game TV adaptations with amazing production quality. The Last Of Us really let me down during its second season (I loved the game). Let's hope this show turns out good, it's too early to jump to conclusions.

@Americansamurai1 I would've guessed 9 or possibly 10 but I googled it and he's 12. He is pretty baby-faced so maybe they're going for Atreus being more obviously just a kid in season 1 and in season 2 they're banking on a growth spurt, dunno.

@Matroska oh wow he's small for his age.

Is the bald cap supposed to be that obvious? That's all I see! from all the thousands of actors they picked the one that can't cut his hair 😑

Really hope they fix the beard and eyes before it goes into full production