We could be on our way to the first truly excellent live-action video game adaptation, as HBO’s The Last of Us is promising gripping psychological drama and terrifying thrills later this year.
Based on the acclaimed Playstation game, this 10-part adaptation stars Game of Thrones alumni Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey in the iconic lead roles of Joel and Ellie (originated by voice actors Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson).
Sony seem intent on bringing their biggest gaming brands to film and television, but stumbled out of the starting blocks with an Uncharted adaptation saddled with mediocre reviews and fan backlash.
However, there is hope that The Last of Us can avoid the same fate, with an acclaimed team of actors, writers and directors, as well as considerable financial investment from HBO.
Read on for everything we know so far about The Last of Us television series.
The Last of Us TV show release date speculation
There’s no official release date for The Last of Us just yet, but we can estimate when the show is likely to debut based on the information we do have to hand.
According to the Director’s Guild of Canada, The Last of Us is undertaking an 11-month shoot in Calgary, which began back in July 2021 and will conclude this coming June [via CBC].
The show is set to have extensive visual effects which will likely require a lengthy stint in post-production, which leads us to the working theory that it won’t premiere until late 2022.
With any luck, the wait will be worth it, as HBO are pouring an eye-watering sum of money in this project.
Damian Petti, president of union branch IATSE 212, told CTV News that the budget of the show “well exceeds the eight figure per episode mark”, suggesting a minimum spend of more than $100 million across the first season’s 10 chapters.
Of that money, Variety revealed that $600,000 per episode (for a total of $6 million) is going to lead actor Pedro Pascal, making him one of the top paid actors on television.
The Last of Us TV show cast
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Taking on the roles of Joel and Ellie is a daunting task as so many people are already heavily invested in these characters, but we have a feeling that the team behind The Last of Us series may have nailed the casting.
Playing Joel will be The Mandalorian‘s Pedro Pascal, who is rumoured to have beaten competition for the role from Game of Thrones co-star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Oscar darling Mahershala Ali.
As for Ellie, that hugely important character will be portrayed by Bella Ramsey, another Thrones cast member who memorably played Lyanna Mormont in the later seasons.
In April 2021, former Ghost Rider actor Gabriel Luna was added to the cast as Tommy, who is the younger brother of Pascal’s Joel and a jaded former soldier.
Meanwhile, in a move that should be pleasing to purists, The Last of Us video game actor Merle Dandridge (The Flight Attendant) will return for this adaptation as Marlene, the head of a scrappy resistance fighting a harsh military regime.
Another familiar face from the game will also feature here, with Jeffrey Pierce cast as quarantine zone rebel Perry (although longtime fans will know him as the voice of Tommy in the original Playstation title).
Rounding out the cast is Nico Parker (Dumbo) as Joel’s daughter Sarah and Anna Torv (Mindhunter) as smuggler Tess, while Murray Bartlett (The White Lotus) and Nick Offerman (Pam and Tommy) are survivalists Frank and Bill.
Beanpole director Kantemir Balagov is on board to direct the pilot, with later episodes to be helmed by celebrated filmmakers Jasmila Žbanić and Ali Abbasi, as well as The Umbrella Academy‘s Jeremy Webb and Dead to Me‘s Liza Johnson.
The scripts will be penned by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, the latter of whom also worked on the game as writer and creative director, so his presence should be reassuring for fans.
The series was first announced as a collaboration between Mazin and his Chernobyl filmmaker Johan Renck, but the latter was forced to drop out at the start of 2021 due to a scheduling conflict.
What is The Last of Us about?
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The Last of Us is set in a post-apocalyptic world where humans have been infected by a kind of fungus that turns them into savage, zombie-like creatures.
We follow Joel, a man who has endured terrible loss, who is tasked with safely escorting a teenage girl named Ellie out of an oppressive quarantine camp and across the United States.
Needless to say, it will not be an easy trip and with dangers lurking around every corner the unlikely team will start to depend on each other more than they ever thought possible.
Writer Neil Druckmann, who has been closely involved in both the video game and television adaptation, revealed that the 10-episode first season will adapt the original Playstation title in full – albeit, with some changes.
“Things sometimes stay pretty close,” he told IGN. “It’s funny to see my dialogue there from the games in HBO scripts. And sometimes they deviate greatly to much better effect because we are dealing with a different medium.”
Druckmann went on to explain that there will naturally be less action in the television show than there was in the game, partly as the lack of interactivity means there is no need to train players on the mechanics of shooting a gun and so on.
“HBO’s been great in pushing us to move away from hardcore action and focus more on the drama of the character,” he added. Some of my favourite episodes so far have deviated greatly from the story, and I can’t wait for people to see them.”
Is there a trailer for The Last of Us?
Not just yet, although with filming due to complete in the coming months, it may not be long until we have our first official look at the hotly anticipated series.
The Last of Us is coming soon. Check out more of our Sci-Fi coverage or visit our TV Guide to find out what’s on this week.
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