The Last of Us is an engaging, occasionally magnificent video game adaptation. The post-apocalyptic drama premieres Sunday, January 15 on HBO.
The Last of Us is the most faithful video game adaptation that has ever been produced. The new HBO series, which comes from Chernobyl writer Craig Mazin and Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann, not only sticks close to the story told in its 2013 source material, but it often replicates entire scenes from that game. This fact won’t occur to any viewers who aren’t familiar with Naughty Dog’s original Last of Us games. For those who are familiar with the property, though, watching the HBO series’ 9-episode first season may be an unexpectedly odd experience.
On the one hand, it’s undeniably refreshing to see a video game adaptation that is genuinely confident in the strength of its source material. On the other hand, watching stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey act out iconic scenes line-for-line that were already performed quite well by Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker is an experience that not only invites unfair comparisons between the series and its video game predecessor but also raises questions about the necessity of the show’s creation.
After all, if a TV show is going to simply recreate many of the scenes, lines of dialogue, and even music cues found in its source material, as The Last of Us does, then what’s the point in even making it? In this case, that question is particularly worth asking, given how effective the original Last of Us remains nearly a decade after its release. Fortunately, HBO’s The Last of Us adds enough to its source material’s story to ultimately justify its existence. In fact, many of the series’ best moments aren’t just the ones that were created specifically for it, but also directly diverge from the canon of the first two Last of Us games.
As those who have played The Last of Us will likely be the first to tell you, its story is not necessarily groundbreaking. The new HBO series is primarily set in a post-apocalyptic world that has become overrun with fungi-covered, zombie-like humans. At the center of its story is Joel Miller (Pascal), a gruff, grief-stricken middle-aged man whose brutal survival skills have made him a reliable smuggler in The Last of Us’ dystopian world. For most of its first season, the series follows Joel as he attempts to safely smuggle a 14-year-old girl named Ellie (Ramsey) across a dangerous, zombie-ridden version of America.
That’s where the real strength of both 2013’s The Last of Us and its TV adaptation lies. Over the course of its first 9 episodes, The Last of Us follows Joel and Ellie as they survive a series of losses and hardships that only bring them closer together. The HBO series’ middle episodes, in particular, focus heavily on the gradual deepening of Ellie and Joel’s bond, which is largely why these installments work better than the show’s impactful but intentionally slow first two chapters.
