Development
Following the success of Santa Monica Studio's original God of War (2005) video game based on Greek mythology, a live-action film adaptation was announced. The film remained in a prolonged pre-production state which saw director, writer, and script changes. After the release of the 2018 installment, which shifted the game series to Norse mythology, and with no updates on the original game's film, rumors of a film adaptation of the newer installment began circulating, but in May 2021, a Sony spokesperson confirmed that there was no film adaptation in development. However, the following year in March 2022, Deadline Hollywood reported that instead of a film, a live-action television adaptation of the God of War series was in negotiations with Amazon Prime Video by Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, and Rafe Judkins.
During an investor briefing in May 2022, Sony Interactive Entertainment president Jim Ryan officially confirmed the series was in development. The series was officially ordered that December, produced by Sony Pictures Television and Amazon Studios in association with PlayStation Productions. Executive producers confirmed were Santa Monica Studio's Cory Barlog and Yumi Yang, PlayStation Productions's Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan, and Vertigo Entertainment's Roy Lee, with Santa Monica's Jeff Ketcham serving as a co-executive producer. It was confirmed that the series would adapt the two Norse mythology-based games—2018's God of War and its 2022 sequel God of War Ragnarök.
Amazon Studios's Head of Television, Vernon Sanders, assured that the series would stay true to the games. Sanders said that the "emotional core" of the first season, and series as a whole, would be the father-and-son story. Qizilbash claimed that they would apply the same amount of care that they did with the television adaptation of The Last of Us, stating that they would be telling the whole story of the game, as without the time constraints of a film, they would have multiple episodes to be able to tell the story.
The series was originally being written by Fergus and Ostby, with Judkins serving as showrunner, who were all also going to be executive producers. By January 2024, writing was underway. In October, however, it was reported that while multiple scripts for the first season had been completed and although both Sony and Prime gave praise, the trio of Fergus, Ostby, and Judkins left the project as the studios wanted to start over and go in a different direction. That same month, prolific creator and showrunner Ronald D. Moore was then hired as the series writer, showrunner, and as an executive producer, with his own company, Tall Ship Productions, also producing. In March 2025, Moore revealed that Amazon had ordered two seasons of the series. Pre-production started that December in Vancouver with casting underway, along with Frederick E. O. Toye hired as director of the first two episodes. Lawrence Trilling and Loni Peristere were also later confirmed to direct.
Casting
In January 2026, it was announced that Ryan Hurst had been cast in the lead role of Kratos; Hurst previously provided the voice and motion capture for Thor in Ragnarök. More casting announcements continued that same month, with Teresa Palmer, Max Parker, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Mandy Patinkin, Danny Woodburn, and Jeff Gulka cast as Sif, Heimdall, Thor, Odin, Brok, and Sindri, respectively, along with Alastair Duncan reprising his role as Mímir from the games. By February, Callum Vinson and Ed Skrein were cast as Atreus and Baldur, respectively. The next month, Louis Cunningham, Ben Chapple, Evelyn Miller, Island Austin, and Sonya Walger joined the cast as Modi, Magni, Gna, Thrud, and Freya, respectively.
