With HBO’s live-action adaptation of The Last of Us officially in the works, anticipation among fans is high to see how the original game’s story will translate to a non-interactive medium. For the most part, they can expect a faithful retelling of The Last of Us, though not without some noticeable changes, according to series creator and show executive producer Neil Druckmann.
The Last of Us has spun one of the most critically-acclaimed narratives in gaming and beyond in the past decade, one that many would argue is a perfect fit for prestige television. While the HBO series has yet to enter production, the news that The Mandalorian’s Pedro Pascal and Game of Thrones’ Bella Ramsey will play Joel and Ellie has gotten most fans excited and eager to learn more about how their story will be told anew.
Speaking with IGN on the subject at SXSW this week, Druckmann touched upon how he and The Last of Us showrunner Craig Mazin are approaching adapting the 2013 original for the show’s first season. He made it clear that the switch to TV will offer a mix of old and new, and while they’re making it so some things will “stay pretty close,” they are also taking advantage of the new medium to push other things in new directions.
Of course, The Last of Us will largely follow the game and the plotlines it introduced, and will even lift dialogue directly from the game. But Druckmann stressed that maintaining the core and “philosophical underpinnings” of Joel and Ellie’s story is the main priority, more so than simply trying to recreate the game beat for beat. As such, the show will sometimes “deviate greatly to much better effect because we are dealing with a different medium.”
One example he gave was that the show will move away from some of the hardcore action of The Last of Us’ gameplay, since much of that was more in service of teaching players gameplay mechanics than the story. Deviations like this will let the show “focus more on the drama of the character,” he said, adding some of his favorite episodes have “deviated greatly from the story, and I can’t wait for people to see them.”
While Druckmann assured that fans will be “surprised by large parts of episodes,” he refrained from revealing more about how the adaptation will approach the source material, merely stating he can’t wait for fans to see Pascal, Ramsey, and the rest of the show’s cast in action. However, he did offer a small tease regarding the show’s take on the Clicker, stating that he recently saw the first prosthetic test for the zombie-like enemy and that “it’s awesome.” He added that it’s “so rad” to see it live-action, and chances are fans will agree when the show eventually premieres.
HBO’s The Last of Us television series is in development.
Source: IGN
