God of War: Canceled Star Wars Show Inspired New Game
The new God of War video game gained inspiration from an unusual, obscure source for the newest video game. According to game director Cory Barlog, the cancelled live-action Star Wars series that never actually materialized served as a story inspiration that informs the character of Kratos in the new video game. Speaking to Venture Beat, creative director Cory Barlog said the new direction for Kratos in the God of War sequel is inspired by scripts for the canceled Star Wars TV series.
According to Barlog, the team for the game focused on giving Kratos a second chance and an opportunity to change his ways, and they wanted to do that by exploring his role as a father. There was some hesitancy in exploring this idea for Kratos, but the core writing team saw an opportunity after exploring some TV scripts for the canceled live-action Star Wars TV show and believed it could actually work.
Barlog recounted some TV scripts for the TV show that he was able to read while visiting Lucasfilm’s Skywalker Ranch. According to Barlog, the TV script had episodes about Emperor Palpatine that actually succeeded in making one of Star Wars’ greatest villains a sympathetic figure. Barlog stated:”I cared about the Emperor. They made the Emperor a sympathetic figure who was wronged by this fucking heartless woman. She’s this hardcore gangster, and she just totally destroyed him as a person. I almost cried while reading this. This is the Emperor, the lightning out of the fingers Emperor.”
In short, a similar approach was taken to Kratos for the new God of War to create an evolved version of Kratos that will hopefully endear him to old and new fans alike. The upcoming God of War game is being developed for the PlayStation 4. It’s release has not yet been announced, but will be revealed later on.