God of War Laufey Star Deborah Ann Woll Unbothered by Backlash: “I Just Know It’s Great”
Deborah Ann Woll, the actor who voices and performs motion-capture for Faye in Sony Santa Monica’s upcoming God of War Laufey, says the wave of negative reaction to the female-led spin-off hasn’t dented her belief in the project. “I mean, genuinely, I thought I was going to be much more affected by it,” she explained, adding “One, I’m not on social media, so that helps,” and “two, I don’t know, I feel totally unbothered because I just know it’s great. Like, it’s okay if it’s not your cup of tea, but in no universe is it bad.”
The Florida Supercon Exchange
Woll’s remarks weren’t made in a formal interview. She was appearing at Florida Supercon last weekend, meeting fans and signing autographs, when TikToker @quinnphobic approached her, handed over letters and fan art, and told the actor not to listen to the misogyny circulating online. The exchange was filmed and later posted to TikTok, where it quickly spread through gaming circles.
The fan pressed further, telling Woll that critics “just hate to see a woman win,” to which the actor replied “I know, they can’t do it.” It’s a brief, off-the-cuff moment, but one that has become the clearest public statement yet from anyone attached to the project on how the backlash has landed with its cast.
Why God of War Laufey Drew Backlash in the First Place
God of War Laufey was unveiled with a 20-minute gameplay showcase during a recent PlayStation State of Play, marking the first game in the series not to feature Kratos in a lead role, with the announcement of Kratos’ late wife Faye as protagonist failing to sit well with a portion of the internet. Since then, the game has attracted what several outlets have described as disproportionate hostility aimed squarely at its story direction and its star.
Beyond ordinary review-bombing chatter, the reaction escalated into uglier territory. Sexist and misogynistic comments cropped up online, alongside deeply strange AI-generated videos depicting Faye washing dishes or doing laundry. Much of that hostility, commentators noted, had the potential to affect Woll directly given how much of the discourse centred on her casting as the franchise’s first female lead.
Some of the criticism has also focused on Faye’s in-game character model, with parts of the fanbase arguing her weathered, battle-worn appearance clashes with Woll’s own likeness — a debate Sony Santa Monica has largely let play out rather than directly rebutting.
Sony Santa Monica Defends the Direction
The studio itself has been vocal in framing Laufey as an expansion of the franchise rather than a departure from it. Creative head Cory Barlog has said the God of War series will “always tell stories about Kratos,” even as this entry hands the spotlight to someone else, while describing the Everywhen’s cast of deities in typically blunt terms: “They think they’re gonna have a happy life. No, they’re all going to fight each other, they’re all going to be in this strange sense of conflict because they’re locked in a prison.”
Game director Ariel Lawrence, who has worked on the rebooted series for years, has pushed back on the idea that a Kratos-free entry is any less “God of War.” Speaking about the mixed public response to the reveal, she said she considers the game “every bit as God of War as all of the things that we’ve done,” adding she’s simply glad so many people are having strong reactions to the 20-minute reveal, whether positive or negative, because “everybody has their connection with a God of War story.”
Lawrence went further, framing a lukewarm response as the worse outcome: “I think if we had put something out and people had been like, ‘it’s okay,’ I think it would have been more disheartening.”
What’s Confirmed So Far
God of War Laufey is being developed by Sony Santa Monica for PlayStation 5, casting Woll opposite Jack Quaid, who voices a gelatinous cube character named Phranque and is widely regarded as an early breakout of the reveal, alongside Perlina Lau as the talking blade Rue. No release date has been locked in, but Sony has already confirmed the game will ship on physical disc, which several outlets have read as a signal it will arrive before Sony’s discs wind down in early 2028.
For Australian and New Zealand PlayStation owners, that physical confirmation matters more than it might elsewhere — retail discs remain a significant slice of sales in the region, and a firm local release plan will likely follow once Sony locks a global date. Until then, the loudest conversation around Laufey continues to be less about combat systems and more about who gets to hold the axe.
Read also: Prime Video’s God of War Recasts Kratos After Ryan Hurst’s Bicep Injury
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