The Last of Us

I'm not so sure we can still say that the “video game movie” curse is really a thing anymore. For years, decades even, there were countless video games ...

The only real question now is how the series will be broken down between the first and second games, whether it’s one season for each, or if this will be extended into a longer term project for HBO. It is just…genuinely hard to see how you would combine all these elements together and not get a worthwhile production, and the initial trailers seem to have gotten fans sufficiently hyped. I also believe I’ll like Bella Ramsey as Ellie, it’s just that I’ve seen her in far fewer things so far (those few, standout Game of Thrones scenes), so it’s a little bit harder to say with her this early. For years, decades even, there were countless video games adapted into movies that seemed to entirely miss the mark, from The Rock’s DOOM to the extremely flat Prince of Persia and Assassin’s Creed. It’s HBO – This may be the fundamental factor here. I’m not so sure we can still say that the “video game movie” curse is really a thing anymore.

Starring Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian) and Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones), The Last of Us follows Joel (Pascal), a smuggler tasked with escorting a teenage ...

From Joel beating a man on the ground to Ellie running and shooting a gun, there is so much to see in just a few shots. To keep her alive, and you set everything right.” Paired with that voice-over, there are a lot of different teases, but we also have our first glimpses of Gabriel Luna as Tommy Miller, Offerman as Bill, and the confirmation of Melanie Lynskey joining the cast. The trailer also offers up confirmation that the show will go beyond the first game with a brief snapshot of Riley (Euphoria’s Storm Reid), who sits on a carousel with Ellie, a scene taken from The Last of Us: Left Behind DLC. The next shot is of a man sitting in front of multiple screens; while not confirmed, games of the fan could assume this to be Bill (Nick Offerman), a recluse who also happens to be friends with Joel. The next is more obscure and has little meaning to those who have not played the game, but we see two buildings in the middle of a storm, with one leaning against the other due to severe deterioration. Opening with footage of what one can assume to be the quarantined zone of Boston, the trailer quickly sets up the tone and feel of the world post-outbreak.

Much is familiar, but new elements like Melanie Lynskey's Kathleen promise to shake things up.

The Last of Us has been around since 2013, so if you’re still avoiding spoilers for this plot, I’m envious of your ability to stay so sheltered from gamer culture. From duplicated street signs and scenes with near identical framing to hints at character development that match the original, here are the top things that stood out to us from the most recent trailer. Previous glimpses of the show revealed some stunning

Ars senior gaming editor Kyle Orland called it "a thrilling, beautiful, exceptionally human zombie apocalypse story" in his 2013 review. The game sold more than ...

[The Last of Us Part II](https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/06/the-last-of-us-part-2-isnt-a-fully-satisfying-return-to-the-apocalypse/) (2020). There are also a handful of new characters: Marlon (Graham Greene), who lives in the Wyoming wilderness with his wife, Florence (Elaine Miles), and Melanie Lynskey as a revolutionary leader in Kansas City named Kathleen. [The Last of Us](https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/06/the-last-of-us-review-me-you-and-the-infected/) game from Naughty Dog debuted in 2013 to pretty much universal acclaim for its narrative, gameplay, visuals, and sound design. Pedro Pascal was cast as Joel, while Bella Ramsey—so memorable as the fierce Lyanna Mormont in Game of Thrones—plays Ellie. Unlike the recent film adaptation of another Naughty Dog game, [Uncharted](https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2022/02/uncharted-film-review-this-is-how-you-dont-adapt-a-video-game/)—which told a new story within the game world—Mazin [said](https://collider.com/last-of-us-hbo-tv-show-video-game-ending/) that any changes for The Last of Us TV series are "designed to fill things out and expand, not to undo, but to enhance." Ars senior gaming editor Kyle Orland called it "a thrilling, beautiful, exceptionally human zombie apocalypse story" in his [2013 review](https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/06/the-last-of-us-review-me-you-and-the-infected/).

When gaming borrows from film (or film from gaming) the adaptations are usually janky and soulless, but games have had notable success adapting or being ...

The Last of Us (the game) tried to look like a prestige TV show, and now The Last of Us (the prestige TV show) is trying to look like the game. But I wish The Last of Us coming to TV meant more than just 'yeah we're doing the game again the exact same way, and Druckmann is here to make doubly sure of it'. The Last of Us is a rich world teeming with characters who never get their story told, not to mention wider potential for completely new stories within the mythos, but it's Joel again. Are we really at the point of pop culture consumption where simply pointing at a thing we recognise is enough to get us on board? There seems to be some exploration of Left Behind beyond what the game's DLC offers us, including likely some time with Joel during the long gap between the game's prologue and its post-time jump opening, and that's a little more like it but still not really enough. It'll probably be good, but that's because The Last of Us is good. The Last of Us is Gus van Sant's Psycho. When gaming borrows from film (or film from gaming) the adaptations are usually janky and soulless, but games have had notable success adapting or being inspired by books - [The Witcher](https://www.thegamer.com/tag/the-witcher/) as a direct adaptation and [BioShock](https://www.thegamer.com/tag/bioshock/) as more of a thematically inspired riff on Atlas Shrugged are two strong examples. Regular readers of TheGamer might assume I have a special kind of bitter distaste for [The Last of Us](https://www.thegamer.com/tag/the-last-of-us/) - I was one of the [loudest voices against the remaster](https://www.thegamer.com/the-great-debate-does-the-last-of-us-need-a-remake/), writing in numerous ways about how the game was a [waste of time, money, and resources](https://www.thegamer.com/the-last-of-us-part-1-remake-differences-better/), as well as being [flagrantly mis-sold to us as a gameplay upgrade](https://www.thegamer.com/the-last-of-us-part-1-gone-gold-so-whgameplay/). It was [not TLOU with TLOU2 gameplay,](https://www.thegamer.com/the-last-of-us-ai-improvements-feel-like-a-con/) it did not redesign the obvious combat arenas, and it was [not the E3 trailer](https://www.thegamer.com/the-last-of-us-part-1-remake-trailer-e3-2012-comparison/). But The Last of Us' TV show is not really an adaptation. I do not have a particular problem with The Last of Us, contrary to what you may think.