Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann are the creators of the HBO post-apocalyptic drama television series The Last of Us. The series, which is based on the 2013 video game created by Naughty Dog, takes place 20 years after a widespread fungus infection caused a worldwide epidemic.
Cast: Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, Gabriel Luna, Anna Torv, Ashley Johnson, Nick Offerman
Creators: Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐½
The First of Us by Naughty Dog was a game industry game changer when it was first released in 2013. You could see right away that this game was unique from the minute it began. The idea itself wasn’t novel; zombie fiction had already taken over popular culture that year, with examples including World War Z, Warm Bodies, and The Walking Dead. What, then, made The Last of Us special? Its innovative cinematic presentation, together with the demanding and intense survival-horror mechanics, and its original take on the zombie cliché. Millions of copies of the game have been sold, it has appeared on numerous best-of lists, and for better or worse, it has changed the course of the gaming industry for the past nine years.
Pedro Pascal, who plays Joel Miller in The Mandalorian, is no stranger to the “dad-core” subgenre and does it with ease. If you’re used to the games, it might take some time for you to fully recognise him as Joel, but by the end of this first season, it will be obvious that he is amazing in the part. Joel is a pessimistic man who lost his daughter and now lives in a post-apocalyptic world. Fewer people love him, and more people dread him. He is tough, resourceful, and not averse to using violence to protect himself. All of this is well portrayed by Pascal, who also manages to give the part his own unique stamp.
Ellie, a brazen 14-year-old girl who learns she is immune to Cordyceps, the mycelial virus that has decimated Earth’s population, is played by Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones), opposite Pascal. Ellie is played by Ramsey in a really dynamic way; they capture her sense of fun and delight at the universe while also giving the character weight in her more frightened and emotional times. The likeable Gabriel Luna (Terminator: Dark Fate), who portrays Tommy, Joel’s younger brother, and the consistently excellent Anna Torv (Fringe), who plays Tess, Joel’s lover, assist our main duo in the first episodes. The two excel in complementing Pedro Pascal, and their personalities reveal important details of Joel’s personality both before and after the pandemic.
The middle arc of the season gets some much-needed and skillfully-directed action in this freshly developed section of the plot with Kathleen, Henry, and Sam. The same issues that Neil Druckmann himself was debating in 2020’s The Last of Us Part II likewise preoccupy these aspects. What is need to survive? What exactly is vengeance, and is it justice? Self-serving? How much is too much? There are numerous ways to have responded to each of these queries.
The original game’s intricate environments and stunning graphics are unparalleled. These visuals showed the gamer just how much contemporary civilization had devolved, from decayed and flooded subway stations to spooky and overgrown urban neighbourhoods. This will be appreciated by any fan. Sadly, there are occasions when the HBO series’ visual quality deteriorates. In situations where the game was the reverse, the lighting can frequently be flat and the scenery can be stark. Admittedly, these incidents might just be the result of the limitations imposed by turning a sizable game into a live-action production.
The emotional basis of the story did smoothly transcend from game to show. The central theme of The Last of Us is Joel and Ellie finding solace in one another and a refuge from the brutal severity of the hopeless world via mutual support and care. It’s breathtakingly lovely.
One of the better instances of a successful adaption is HBO’s The Last of Us series. Although at times it falls short of the scope or graphics of its namesake, it takes the plot and finds a number of ingenious and potent methods to improve the content. Gustavo Santaolalla, who composed the music for the original game, also contributes another heartfelt score that supports the performers and infuses each scene with emotion. All adaptations should strive to do this, yet they hardly ever do.