God of War Roars Onto Prime Video With Two-Season Order as Frederick E.O. Toye Directs the First Two Episodes

Prime Video has been quietly building its God of War series for a while, and now it finally feels real: the show has a two-season order, a new showrunner, and a director lined up for the first two episodes. Yes, it took a minute to get here.

Where things stand right now

Ronald D. Moore is now writing, executive producing, and running the show. If you know him from his Star Trek work (and, yes, other genre heavyweights), you get why Amazon is feeling confident enough to pull the trigger on two seasons before cameras roll. Production is gearing up in Vancouver, with casting underway.

Deadline notes the two-season order is "not unusual for series of this scope when a platform believes in the creative because such shows involve a lot of upfront world-building costs related to production design, set building, costumes and props that are better amortized over multiple seasons."

How we got here

• Three years ago: Prime Video announced a God of War adaptation with Rafe Judkins and The Expanse creators Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby leading development.
• About a year ago: That original team exited. Ronald D. Moore stepped in to take over.
• Now: Amazon gave it a two-season order, and Frederick E.O. Toye has been hired to direct the first two episodes, per Deadline.

What the show is actually about

The series centers on Kratos and his son Atreus, who set out to carry out Faye's last wish by scattering her ashes. Along the way, dad is trying to teach his kid how to be a better god, while the kid is trying to teach dad how to be a better human. If you played the 2018 game, that dynamic will sound very familiar.

Who is making it

The show is coming from Sony Pictures Television and Amazon MGM Studios, with PlayStation Productions involved alongside Moore's Tall Ship Productions under his overall deal at Sony TV.

Moore executive produces with Maril Davis, Cory Barlog, Naren Shankar, Matthew Graham, Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan, Hermen Hulst, Roy Lee, and Brad Van Arragon. Joe Menosky, Marc Bernardin, Tania Lotia, Ben McGinnis, and Jeff Ketcham are on board as co-executive producers.

The director for the opening episodes

Frederick E.O. Toye will handle the first two hours. He has more than 130 hours of television behind the camera, including four episodes of FX's Shogun, which earned him an Emmy for directing. His resume runs through Lost, The Good Wife, Person of Interest, American Gods, The Walking Dead, See, Lost in Space, Westworld, Watchmen, Snowpiercer, and a bunch of Prime Video staples: Fallout, The Boys, The Terminal List, the spinoff The Terminal List: Dark Wolf, and Bloodaxe. In other words, scale and genre are very much his lane.

What to expect next

With Vancouver prep underway and casting in motion, the big question is who lands Kratos and Atreus. A two-season commitment this early is a serious vote of confidence and, frankly, a smart budget move for a world this big. I will not complain if that means the show hits the ground already thinking like a long game.