3 min readMar 3, 2026 11:11 AM IST
Amazon Prime recently revealed the first look of the “God of War” TV show, which is based on the popular “God of War” video game franchise. The poster, however, has drawn criticism from certain sections of fans online. David Jaffe, the creator of the “God of War” video games, took to his YouTube channel to slam the first look.
The poster features franchise hero Kratos, played by Ryan Hurst, standing in a forest and seemingly teaching his son, played by Callum Vinson, how to hunt. Reacting to the image, David called the first look “bad in so many ways.” He added, “I’m sure everybody’s trying real hard, [but] it’s so dumb. But let’s be incredibly clear, okay? Two things can be true. This can be a terrible image, and it is. It’s so bad in so many ways, which we’ll talk about in a moment. And Ron Moore is awesome, who is the showrunner… This guy is a juggernaut of a talented fellow. I have absolutely no doubt it is going to be a good show.”
David went on to criticise Ryan Hurst’s pose in the first-look image and described it as a “dumb f***ing image.” He said, “Kratos in this pose with this expression, not the guy’s face, but this expression, he just looks stupid,” he explained. “If you’re going to reveal, to most people, a brand new character that you hope is going to carry your series, for the first time, and they’ve never really seen this before, and this is the way you introduce them?”
He continued, “Maybe that’s conscious. Maybe they’re like, ‘Well, what we really want to focus on is the father-son story. And if we focus on him being like, Spartan rage, and all that, maybe people are like, “I don’t want to watch that show.”’ Ok maybe. But then, at that point, could you find a picture that doesn’t look like he’s shitting in the woods? Cause that’s what the picture looks like.”
Prime Video shared the first-look photo on February 27 with the caption, “Father and Son. Behold your first look at Kratos and Atreus in the God of War series now in production for @primevideo. Their journey to the highest peak begins.”
Apart from Hurst and Callum Vinson, the cast also includes Max Parker as Heimdall, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Thor, Mandy Patinkin as Odin, Alastair Duncan as Mimir, Danny Woodburn and Jeff Gulka as the brothers Brok and Sindri, and Ed Skrein as Baldur.
