A massive update regarding Amazon's live-action God of War adaptation reveals the show is finally moving forward in a measurable way.
With production based out of Vancouver and showrunner Ronald D. Moore now on the hunt for cast members, the video game series looks more ready than ever to start its journey to the small screen for the first time. While little is known about the story at the moment, it has at least been confirmed that God of War will focus on the 2018 game of the same name and the 2022 sequel, Ragnarök.
Previous games in the series will likely be used as reference material, possibly even opening the door to exciting flashback scenes that are especially pivotal to God of War's present-day sequences. After all, this is largely how the pre-2018 installments were used in the most recent games. However, I have a theory that Amazon's new version of the story will adopt a similar approach to another show on the streaming platform: Fallout. If it does, I think it would be an interesting move — but not without its issues.
Ragnarök's ending opens the door to a Fallout-style adaptation of the God of War games
Amazon's Fallout TV show made the fascinating decision to set the story within the exact same canon as the games, rather than simply using them as source material and creating a new version of the story. It's strange at times because the TV characters are forced to abide by the same rules that exist in the games, but that just makes it all the more quirky and enthralling. The show's success speaks for itself, really. While God of War generally isn't expected to follow this blueprint, the franchise has provided an opening for it to happen.
2022's Ragnarök ends with its two main characters, Kratos and Atreus, parting ways. The father/son duo split up and don't reunite, and all the post-story gameplay replaces Atreus with a character called Freya. The dynamic between Kratos and Atreus has been at the heart of the franchise's current era, which started in 2018, so a show about their respective adventures and inevitable reunion could be a very rewarding storyline, especially considering the fact that Amazon has already greenlit two seasons of the show.
This way, the God of War games would remain as relevant as they've ever been, rather than being relegated to the "old" version of the story. Amazon would need to make the show accessible to those who have never played the games, but Moore is such a good showrunner that I'm confident he could pull something like that off. After all, characters have often lived rich lives before a story begins, so it wouldn't even be that odd for the show to pick up where the most recent game ended, if enough context is provided.
God of War has a few more obstacles than Fallout when considering a canon TV show
The Fallout games combine to create a vast post-apocalyptic world, but they aren't especially character-driven. The player controls a nameless avatar, and the aim of the game is more about survival than anything else. There is a larger storyline, but even that is relatively flexible. So, even though the show is part of the same canon, it bypassed its lack of traditional adaptation options by simply introducing a new batch of characters to the established timeline. The show acknowledges key events within the Fallout universe, but it's otherwise an original storyline. This makes it very easy for newcomers to tune in without ever playing the games.
God of War, on the other hand, doesn't have that same level of narrative freedom. A show without Kratos would make the title nonsensical, so his presence is the bare minimum that's required. With confirmation that the 2018 game will be the starting point for the show, it stands to reason that Moore will also include Atreus. That said, while new Fallout games can (and probably will) be released alongside the show with little need for mutual acknowledgement, the same is not true of God of War.
Therefore, if God of War does opt to go down the Fallout route, the fantasy franchise would need to be immaculate in its efforts to keep Kratos' journey consistent between the show and any games that are likely to follow. For this reason alone, it's probably less of a risk to just treat the God of War games as traditional source material rather than retroactively making them into canonical prequels, and leaving the multimedia trailblazing to Fallout.
God of War currently has no official release date, but Fallout season 2 returns on Prime Video on Dec. 17, 2025.