The Last of Us TV Show: Everything We Know about the HBO Series
The Last of Us TV show has been in the making and we all know about that. But now there has been a latest development in the process of making an HBO series on arguably the best story driven game of all time as the cast for the two lead characters of the show has come out.
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The Last of Us Synopsis
The Last of Us is a post-apocalypse game based on the story of Joel and Ellie.
The game starts with the outbreak of a Cordyceps fungus infection which turns Humans into aggressive scavengers.
In Austin, Texas, a man named Joel Miller loses his daughter Sara during an attempt to escape all the chaos happening around along with his brother Tommy. Twenty years later, the infection has spread across the globe resulting in a minimal surviving Human population.
Joel turns into a smuggler in Boston, Massachusetts and along with his partner Tess(Annie Wersching), gets a job of smuggling a 14 years old girl named Ellie to Fireflies (a private organisation formed to find a cure for the infection) who were believed to be putting up in Massachusetts State House.
While doing so Tess gets infected and upon discovering Ellie’s immunity against the infection she makes Joel promise her to get Ellie to Fireflies.
Throughout the game, both Joel and Ellie travel across the country of The United States of America in search of Fireflies, in turn developing a father-daughter relationship.
Who is making The last of Us TV Show ?
The writer of Chernobyl (miniseries), Craig Mazin is teaming up with the creative director of Naughty Dog, Neil Druckmann to create the TV series adaptation of the popular story-driven game, The last of Us. Last year a statement came from Mazin that the show would go under development as soon as The Last of Us Part II gets released.
“We can’t start on it right away because they’re still finishing up the second game. We’ve been talking about it for months, little plans and things. We’re going to dig in in full, full earnest once they wrap up their final work on the sequel,” Mazin said on his Scriptnotes podcast pre-release.
Cast and Characters of the TV Show
According to reports, Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey are on board to play Joel and Ellie respectively. Apart from that you may get to see some other characters of the game in the show as well. However, apart from from the the lead characters of Joel and Ellie, the casting for other characters has either incomplete, or if it is complete, it has not been revealed.
Here is the list of confirmed characters of The Last of Us TV show:
- Joel (Lead)- Pedro Pascal
- Ellie (Lead)- Bella Ramsey
- Riley (Ellie’s friend)- Uncast
- Tess (Joel’s Ally)- Uncast
- Marlene (Leader of Fireflies)- Uncast
- Maria– Uncast
Apart from that, Neil Drukmann has also hinted of a special character by leaving a four letter blank for people to guess the character, which highlights the possibility of Abby being in the show.
What is the Story of The Last of Us TV Show ?
The Last of Us HBO series will be a direct adaptation of the original game with some enhancements and additions.
A synopsis has been officially revealed by HBO: “The story takes place 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse across the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.”
Will The Last of Us TV Show include The Last of Us Part II ?
The Hollywood Reporter revealed early this month, that the series will “cover the events of the original game… with the possibility of additional content based on the forthcoming game sequel, The Last of Us Part II.”
Craig Mazin in a BBC Radio interview hinted that the game may be a enhanced version of the game story. “I think fans of something worry that, when the property gets licensed to someone else, those people don’t really understand it, or are going to change it,” Mazin said about The Last of Us HBO series. “In this case, I’m doing it with the guy who did it, and so the changes that we’re making are designed to fill things out and expand, not to undo, but rather to enhance.”
He further added, “We’re creating a new and we’re also reimagining what is already there to present a different format. It’s kind of a dream come true for me.”
Neil Drukmann who happens to be the creative director of the original game, The Last of Us, also talked about the process of creating an HBO show on such an incredible story driven game in an interview with EW.
“You have to figure out [with a TV show] how it communicates ideas or tells stories. In removing the interactivity of the story, how do you make it unique for this other medium? It’s an interesting challenge, and I think there’s a lot to learn from it… Craig [Mazin] had ideas about how to adapt the show, it became intriguing to work with another creative who I admire. It just became a no-brainer – and to do it under the umbrella of HBO and all their content.”
The Last of Us TV Show Release Date
HBO has not confirmed any release date for the show because so far not even the production of the The Last of Us has started. This means, we could expect for the show to release in the first quarter of 2022 at the earliest.