If Anyone’s Going to Do This Post-Apocalyptic Hellscape Justice, It’ll Be HBO
The Last of Us Part 2 may have been dominating the conversation for a while, but the original The Last of Us is still a classic in its own right. Yeah, it may not push as many boundaries, be several years old, and lack the terrifying Rat King. That’s still no reason to overlook it. This game is still one of the best explorations of characters, relationships, and how to put the player in the mindset of an unpleasant protagonist on the market. And soon, it’ll be doing all of that for a second time as a TV series. That’s right, HBO has greenlit a television adaptation of Joel and Ellie’s journey and now production has begun. This could be either very good or very bad. Either way, we’re on the edge of our seats.
.@HBO gives series order to #TheLastOfUs. @clmazin and @Neil_Druckmann set to write and executive produce. Carolyn Strauss, @evan_wells, @aqizil, and @CarterSwan also executive produce. @SPTV, @Naughty_Dog, @PlayStation productions are set to produce: https://t.co/dIOCovjGqK pic.twitter.com/tOsuWFwklR
— HBO PR (@HBOPR) November 20, 2020
Previously, the series was just being pitched to the network, but now it’s officially been ordered by HBO. That means we now have a whole bunch of new info to share. Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin have been announced as primary writers and executive producers alongside Carolyn Strauss, whose resume includes work on Game of Thrones and Chernobyl. Other producers on this project will include Naughty Dog’s Evan Wells as well as PlayStation Productions’ Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan. HBO is developing the series in tandem with Sony Pictures, PlayStation Productions, and Naughty Dog itself, so hopefully the core themes–and the grimy apocalyptic feel of TLoU‘s world–will carry over.
We still don’t know how many episodes the show will have or when it will debut, but rest assured, we’ll let you know as soon as we find out. Here’s one thing we can share right now: the show will exclusively focus on the first game, so if you had problems with the sequel, there’s no need to take your anger out on HBO. Not that you should do that either way.
Who do you want to see as Joel and Ellie? Let us know down in the comments, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook.