The Last of Us is coming to TV!!
Hi I'm resident ZI gamer Dizzy! and OK, so maybe I'm a bit slow on the update here (I'm blaming lockdown) but The Last of Us is being made into a TV Series. And after the planned film adaptation was sadly cancelled, we are very excited about this announcement!!
I recently played The Last of Us part 1 and 2 over on our Twitch channel (Twitch.tv/zombieinfection) and I absolutely ADORED these games.
Embarrassingly my game play for each was in the region of 25 hours, not record breaking, but I am very proud to say I have completed my first two full games on “Normal” difficulty and will brag about this quite regularly.
Personally I really enjoyed both games. In the first game I was completely sucked into the back story of both Ellie and Joe and how their relationship developed throughout. It was the perfect mix of adrenaline fueled zombie shooting and excellently narrated story. With plenty of opportunities to show my terrible aiming skills or panic at the sight of the clickers. Contrary to popular opinion, I thought the follow up (Part 2) was even better! It was interesting to see both it from Ellie and Abbie's differentiating points of views. Though I didn't find myself empathising with Abbie's character as much as other gamers did, I rather enjoyed “accidentally” killing her a few times as karma for what she did to Joel.
The TV show will be bought to us courtesy of HBO, so if the CGI is on par with Game of Thrones we are in for a treat! A synopsis has been 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."
An intriguing synopsis that peaks the interest of both fans of the games and a whole new audience. It appears the series will start at the very beginning of the story, handy for those who have somehow avoided the temptation of playing the games, and will include events from the “Left Behind” DLC along with Ellie's girlfriend.
Its a relief to read that Naughty Dog's Neil Drukkman (writer and creative director of the games) will be responsible for the scripting. Far two often are adaptations steered way off course from the original storyline. If you have read the Walking Dead Graphic novels and compared it to the series, you will get my drift here.
Now I am not going to lie that I am slightly disappointed that Hugh Jackman won't be playing the role of Joel, however the choice of Pedro Pascal was a pleasant surprise. If you have seen Game of Thrones (I mean if you haven't watched it.. what have you been doing with your life?) you'll remember him as Oberyn who was very dangerous and unpredictable.
I wasn't convinced based on this he would make the Joel we all know and love. I am also not convinced he has the right aesthetic. However I have read he plays a similar role to Joel in The Mandalorian (which I have to admit I have not watched) as a hardened bounty hunter and warrior who softens when he has to care for an abandoned child. So this will be a case of “wait-and-see” in my opinion.
If you were wondering what happened to the guy who actually voiced Joel, Troy Baker, he wants to feature in the show as one of the infected and be “blown up”... sounds fun to me!
Moving onto a casting I think is absolutely spot on, the choice to cast Bella Ramsey as Ellie. Yes, you got it, I'm going to reference Game of Thrones again. But not until I have mentioned the Bafta nominated appearance as Mildred Hubble in the Worst Witch, Them were the days right?? Anywho that performance of Lyanna Mortmont in the final episode 'The North Remembers,,,' Amazing. I have no doubt whatsoever that Bella will be amazing as Ellie.
So what about the rest of the cast? I reckon a few more cast members from Game of Thrones. Probably. Though I would LOVE to see Nathalie Emmanuel (Missandei GOT) cast as Riley Abel (Ellie's girlfriend) and I'm sure we can chuck some Tyrion in for good measure?
One thing I am 100% positive on, just like in the games, the music will be epic as Gustavo Santaolalla will be scoring the HBO series, just as he did with the first two games.
Release date is unknown but it is said to be around the end of 2022. So there is a little wait yet!
In conclusion;
Play the games if you haven't played them yet.
Watch Game of Thrones if you haven't watched them yet.
When the series comes out look out for the infected version of Troy Baker.
Read the Walking Dead Graphic series.
Act surprised if anyone is cast that wasn't in Game of Thrones.
Survive Lockdown 3.0.
Check out our streams every week over on twitch.tv/zombieinfection!
