He’s played the world’s greatest swordsman Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride, CIA agent Saul ‘The Bear’ Berenson in Homeland, and one time he was even Papa Smurf (in Smurfs: The Lost Village), but now actor, activist, and all-round mensch Mandy Patinkin has just landed the mother of all gigs. Or should that be the All-Father of all gigs? Deadline is reporting that Patinkin is set to play Norse god — and antagonistic thorn in Kratos’ side — Odin in Ronald D. Moore’s upcoming live-action God Of War Prime Video series.
Since we brought you news a fortnight ago of Sons Of Anarchy star Ryan Hurst’s casting as Kratos in Amazon MGM Studios and Sony Pictures Television’s show, which is set to adapt Santa Monica Studios’ two Norse mythology flavoured entries in the iconic PlayStation video game series, there’s been a flurry of exciting casting announcements for writer-showrunner Moore’s ambitious undertaking. Since our last God Of War check-in, we’ve seen Ólafur Darri Ólafsson — aka Severance‘s Mr. Drummond — cast as brash God of Thunder Thor; Teresa Palmer (Warm Bodies) as Thor’s wife and goddess of family Phoebe/Sif; and Max Parker (Boots) as Watchman of Asgard and son of Odin Heimdall. We’ve no word just yet however on who’ll be playing the titular God of War’s son, ten-year-old Atreus, who joins his father on a perilous journey to scatter the ashes of his mother, Faye.
With a two-season order already in place at Prime Video for Moore’s God Of War, the series’ cast getting stacked with quality picks in key roles, and the likes of Emmy-winning Shōgun, The Boys, and Fallout director Frederick E.O. Toye already attached to helm episodes of the show, it’s clear that Amazon is coming not to play as its streaming service looks to go toe-to-toe with HBO’s The Last Of Us. And all we can say is BOYYYYYY are we ready to grab our axe and (ethically sourced) furs and head back to Midgard for this one.
