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I recently played The Last of Us Remastered (yes, I just started playing it eight years after its release) and it was great! I generally stay away from horror, zombies, or anything that makes me feel anxious, but this was an exception.
I had just one wish after finishing the game: that it had a movie adaptation so that other people could experience the game’s story even if they don’t want to spend 15 hours playing through it.
I know there are a ton of flunked game-to-film adaptations, and I know it’s very difficult and rare to have a great adaptation, but I think that the adaptation of The Last of Us has a ton of potential — as long as they bring a similar experience from the games.
It’s a long way before the show actually premieres, but there are already a lot of things that we can talk and nerd out about HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us. Here’s everything we know so far, and what we can expect or hope for.
Meet the Cast
Main Characters
- Joel Miller – Pedro Pascal
- Ellie – Bella Ramsey
Recurring Characters
- Tommy Miller – Gabriel Luna
- Tess – Anna Torv
- Sarah Miller – Nico Parker
- Marlene – Merle Dandridge (same voice actress from the game)
If you’re one of the people who are monitoring the latest news about this series adaptation, you know that some fans are displeased with the casting. They feel like the actors and actresses they chose don’t look like the original characters from the game.
Pedro Pascal, for example, is probably not the best Joel look alike available — even though the star of The Mandalorian is an incredible actor and will likely pull off a great badass post-apocalyptic survivor role like Joel.
But there were a lot of other actors that look a bit more like Joel that fans of the game were clamoring for. Karl Urban, Hugh Jackman, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau are three of the most popular fan picks.
But does the cast looking exactly like the original characters really matter? I think the goal of the series is to bring the amazing story of The Last of Us to more people, especially to those who don’t play video games, so I think it’s perfectly fine if the cast doesn’t resemble the characters from the game.
Aside from the official cast, there are other characters like Maria whose casting has not been announced. We also know that Riley will appear on the show, which means that the events from the Left Behind DLC will be included.
The Show Will Have the Same Dreadful Vibe
When I talk about The Last of Us in general, one of the things I ramble about the most is the game’s design and art. Every place in the original game is dark and gloomy. I’m not a fan of horror in general and I’m also not a fan of dark and scary places, but there’s something about the design and art from The Last of Us that reels me in to look closer and pay attention to the incredible detail.
I hope that we’ll get that same dreadful and dark feeling with the HBO adaptation as we got with the games. It seems like it’s going to be that way.
This first photo is the first official photo that the production released. I don’t recall seeing a plane crash site in the game, but I guess that’s a sign that they’re keeping the series fresh and interesting for those of us who already played the game. Of course, it might also just be there to make the fans speculate about it online.
Okay, the first photo is not the most dreadful thing ever, but this leaked photo might be! It’s a photo of Joel, Tess, and Ellie outside a building infested with the cordyceps fungi. The fungi might look even grosser in the show. And I’m definitely curious to see what’s inside that building.
There’s no infected yet to be leaked online so we still don’t know what type of infected we’ll see, or how they’ll look. But, seeing how convincing the cordyceps props look, I’m hoping to see an even more convincing hoard of clickers, stalkers, and bloaters.
What to Expect With the Story
The story of The Last of Us revolves around the Cordyceps Brain Infection outbreak. It’s a mutated fungus that can turn humans into zombie-like creatures. If you don’t already know, the cordyceps fungus is real. The parasitic fungus can “zombify” ants, which was the main inspiration for Neil Druckmann when writing the game’s story.
The main storyline of the game is set in America 20 years after the CBI ravaged the world. The goal in the game is to travel across the United States to reach the only people capable of making a vaccine against the CBI since Ellie is the only one who’s known to be immune from the infection.
Now, the big question is: will the HBO adaptation follow that same main storyline? Let’s try to guess by taking a look at the leaked photos online showing different sets they’re shooting in.
The first scene in the game shows Joel, Tommy, and Sarah fleeing from the initial outbreak. This photo above shows the actors playing Joel, Tommy, and Sarah and was posted on Instagram with the caption, “Filming has Begun.”
Given those clues, I think this photo may have been taken while shooting the car scene where they’re escaping the initial CBI outbreak. Of course, it might just be a friendly photo of them commuting together to the set.
Recently, there have been a lot of new photos surfacing online showing sets of what’s supposed to be the Boston QZ, the Capitol building on The Outskirts, and the latest sets showing the Jackson community and the University.
Seeing the Jackson Community as a set they’re shooting in is a bit weird. In the game, you actually can’t see inside the Jackson Community until the game’s sequel. I doubt they’re shooting the events of the second game, but if they are, then it’s probably bad news.
The University is also shown as a set they’re preparing to shoot in. In the game, you’ll encounter a group of cannibals right after visiting the University. This is a time when you can only play as Ellie, and you’ll have to fight the cannibals and David alone.
There’s no proof that this will be included in the show yet, but if that isn’t a part of the story, they’re digging the show’s grave.
If you played the game already, I doubt that the show will give us a lot of new info. I think the story with Riley and Ellie on the Left Behind DLC will be shown on the show, so if you haven’t played the DLC I guess that’s something new for you.
I know these aren’t much in the way of predictions if you already played the game, but that’s really all we can tell at this stage. Seeing that there is some evidence of changes, though, I think we who played the game will still enjoy watching the show.
What We Can Expect
Music Design
Gustavo Santaolalla, who worked on the game, will also be the musical composer for the HBO series, so you can expect a similar atmosphere of dread and hopelessness that players felt with the first game.
Cinematography
There are a ton of camera movements and unique camera angles in the game, like the time Joel was fighting the infected while he was hanging from Bill’s trap. I know those intense camera movements are hard to recreate, but I’m hoping that type of cinematography will find its way into the show. Only with similarly impressive cinematography will I expect the show to be a massive success.
LGBTQ+ Characters
A lot of LGBTQ+ fans clamored to keep Ellie and other LGBTQ+ characters from the game. Craig Mazin, a writer for the show, said, “You have my word” to a fan requesting to keep the gay characters gay. So it looks like we can expect Bill, Ellie, Riley, and other characters in the second game to stay gay.
Plus, Neil Druckmann, the original writer for the game, is also a writer for the series! That means fans can be optimistic that the story will stay close to what Druckmann envisioned.
The show is expected to release in 2022, so it’s still a ways away. If there are any new updates and leaks, I’ll be sure to put them in the comments!
Well, that’s just about everything we know so far. Are you stoked for this show? Let us know!
But for now, I’ll leave you with this quick thread showing the shooting of The Last of Us in Mount Royal University:
