God of War game creator David Jaffe has reacted to the show adaptation’s first teaser image released by Amazon. And he’s mostly confused.
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David Jaffe was behind the first two God of War games (2005 and 2007), which follow Kratos on his quest to topple the Greek pantheon. Although he left after two installments to pursue other creative endeavours, he left the franchise to his studio, Eat Sleep Play and Sony.
In 2022, the year God of War Ragnarök was released, Amazon announced they had ordered a show of the franchise to be made, following the latest arc that follows Kratos and his son, Atreus, as they move on from Greek mythology to the Norse.
Amazon released a teaser image showing Kratos and Atreus on February 27. And the internet proceeded to rip the image to shreds. Ryan Hurst is set to play Kratos, with the 10-year-old Callum Vinson playing Atreus.
One glance at the comments sums up the complaints of the majority.
David Jaffe, however, has more nuanced problems with the image. The next day, he went to YouTube to share his thoughts.
David Jaffe Says The ‘God of War’ Teaser Image is “Bad In So Many Ways”
“I’m sure everybody’s trying real hard, [but] it’s so dumb,” Jaffe said, after laughing at the photo. Don’t be fooled, however. Although you may assume Jaffe is being bitter seeing his old creative project being pulled in different directions without him, his problems lie in stylistic choices. He is rather optimistic about the production itself.
“Let’s be incredibly clear, okay? Two things can be true,” he said. Although he believes the image is awful, he called the showrunner, Ronald D. Moore, a “juggernaut of a talented fellow.”
Jaffe made sure to call out his work with Outlander, Battlestar Galactica, and Star Trek. “I have absolutely no doubt it is going to be a good show,” he said.
The majority of his issues with the image aren’t how the actors look; frankly, he doesn’t care at all about that. Instead, he is “confused” as to why Amazon would release that specific image.
“Kratos in this pose with this expression, not the guy’s face, but this expression, he just looks stupid,” he commented before pointing out the “styrofoam rock” in the background. He also noticed the “tons of product” in Atreus’ hair.