Amazon is turning the God of War video game series into a TV series. Lead actors Ryan Hurst and Callum Vinson are currently facing a lot of criticism.
Video game adaptations can sometimes have a hard time. That’s because bringing a template that’s perfect for fans to the big screen or TV screen involves many risks. Although productions such as Fallout and Arcane are positive examples, there are also Far Cry, Alone in the Dark, and Return to Silent Hill, which have been heavily criticized for their poor adaptation or weak CGI performance.
We don’t yet know what fate awaits the God of War series, but we now have a first look at Ryan Hurst and Callum Vinson as Kratos and Atreus.
However, this does not give us more hope for a good adaptation, but rather makes fans very skeptical.
First impressions of Kratos and Atreus
The cast list for the series was initially well received by fans. But actually seeing the actors in their roles is a completely different matter. Here is the image of Kratos and Atreus:
Below the post are numerous comments criticizing Hurst and Vinson’s appearance. According to these comments, Kratos lacks muscle mass, and Atreus’ hairstyle does not do justice to the video game version.
On Reddit, Jabbam believes that Ryan Hurst actually “looks just like Kratos” and therefore blames the makeup artists. Otherwise_Paper7464, the sight is reminiscent of Thor from Avengers: Endgame. However, the user does not rule out that it may have more to do with the angle and posture.
Others suspect that it is also due to the lighting in the shot. Developer Santa Monica Studio uses a very sophisticated form of color correction for the games in order to perfectly capture the familiar God of War atmosphere. One fan has attempted to reproduce the color grading for the Amazon image:
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. pic.twitter.com/vOkD1SiJ3q
— Amazon MGM Studios (@AmazonMGMStudio) February 27, 2026
Is the photo really real?
Quite a few users are even looking for evidence to find out whether it could possibly be an AI-generated photo. Fans want to pin this down primarily on Atreus’ bow, which is held in an unnatural way.
The curious thing about this assumption: Even Ryan Hurst alluded to it in his Instagram story, which he accompanied with appropriate orchestral music.
Ryan Hurst reacts to the bad Kratos picture
Trying to understand what he’s implying about this…very official still from Amazon? pic.twitter.com/gMCYvA0OIh
— Paul Tassi (@PaulTassi) February 28, 2026
Link to Twitter content
Just a few hours after the reveal, he shared the words: “Don’t believe everything you see on the internet, kids.” That only confused fans even more, because Amazon MGM Studios, Prime Video, and Playstation shared the image on their official channels on social media.
Should fans be worried already? The image is no reason to throw in the towel and expect the worst. Filming will not start until March 2026, and after that, the scenes will undergo intensive post-production. So there is still a lot to be done before the series starts.
The new episodes are expected to be released in late 2027 or early 2028. If you want to know more, we’ve linked to a detailed article in the box above. There you’ll find all the important info about the cast, release date, and story at a glance.