God of War Laufey, the Santa Monica Studio spin-off that puts Faye in the lead, was not a late addition to the franchise. The plan goes back years, and Deborah Ann Woll, who plays Faye, has been sitting on the secret since 2018. That was the same period Cory Barlog brought her in to discuss God of War Ragnarok and walk her through the 2018 reboot.
Quick answer: Barlog pitched a Faye-led God of War to Woll in 2018, and he already had cover art showing both Faye and the cube companion now known as Phranque. The team had been thinking about the idea before that point.
Woll has known about God of War Laufey for nearly ten years
Speaking at a Game Con Canada panel, Woll said she had carried the knowledge of the project for almost a decade without being able to talk about it. The pitch came when Barlog wanted to bring her on for Ragnarok and show her the 2018 game, and the Laufey concept was already part of that conversation.
He pitched it to me in 2018, and they had known about it before then. It’s wild. Like when Cory brought me in to talk about doing Ragnarök and show me the 2018 game, he already had a poster for the Laufey game with me and a cube. A cube that’s been there since the beginning. It’s deeply a part of the lore.
That poster detail matters because it shows the central pieces of Laufey were locked in early. Faye as the protagonist and the cube as her companion were both present in the original pitch art, not concepts that were bolted on once the game entered full production.
The cube, Phranque, was part of the story from the start
The companion Woll described is Phranque, the talking cube voiced by Jack Quaid. Director Ariel Lawrence has said Phranque was one of the very first things the team created, and that he was always meant to be part of the story. Woll’s account lines up with that, since the cube appeared on the cover art she saw eight years earlier.
Phranque is positioned as an active combat presence rather than a passive sidekick, launching enemies into the air and shoving larger foes. Faye’s second companion is Rue, an enchanted ribbon guardian who hands Faye the legendary sword she uses after waking up in the Everywhen.
Where Laufey sits in the God of War timeline
The 2018 timing of the pitch fits the story Santa Monica is telling. Laufey begins right after the opening of God of War (2018), when Faye dies and ascends to the Everywhen, a realm where deceased gods from different myths end up. The game runs concurrently with both God of War (2018) and God of War Ragnarok, so the idea forming near the end of the reboot’s development tracks with how the narrative connects.
It also explains why Faye’s role grew in Ragnarok and why Woll was kept on to play her across both that game and the spin-off. Rather than working backward to fit the older entries, the studio appears to have planned Faye’s journey through the Everywhen all along, building the two Kratos-led games and Laufey as connected threads.
| Detail | Confirmed |
|---|---|
| Protagonist | Faye (Deborah Ann Woll) |
| Companions | Phranque the cube (Jack Quaid), Rue the ribbon guardian (Perlina Lau) |
| Setting | The Everywhen, where dead gods gather |
| Timeline | Runs alongside God of War (2018) and Ragnarok |
| Developer | Santa Monica Studio |
| Platform | PS5 |
What Laufey means for the wider series
Woll framed the game as a way to address the lingering questions left by the Norse saga, expanding on ideas the earlier titles only hinted at. Barlog has described the project as a deliberate push to broaden the God of War universe and treat it as a much larger, mostly untapped world. The Kratos and Atreus side of the series is also set to continue, so Laufey runs in parallel rather than replacing it.
God of War Laufey does not have an official release date. Sony has promoted it as coming soon, and industry insiders point to a launch in the first half of 2027, though no official window has been confirmed. You can wishlist it now on the PlayStation Store while you wait for a firm date.
