Video game adaptations have been a real mixed bag of success over the years. Typically, it ends up being very difficult to translate the game to the big screen with movies and television shows and they end up wildly off base from what it is they’re trying to adapt in the first place. Look for the light, however, as The Last of Us television show may carry with it something special. You can get excited with the trailer if you haven’t already seen it.

This one is set to be a little different from the rest. The Last of Us gives us some reasons to believe that this one can stand out among the sea of hated releases and do the franchise justice where other attempts have failed. If all goes well, this could become the recipe for how other adaptations should bring a beloved video game to the screen.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

The Original Writer Is Involved

     HBO

In a first for video games adapted to television shows, this one is actually going to be adapted to screen by the game’s original writer Neil Druckmann. This guy directed the game and has worked on almost every other big Naughty Dog project to date. It’s safe to say though that there is no one else who understands what these characters are about better than the very guy who invented them. He’s also joined by HBO veteran Craig Mazin, who headed up the brilliant Chernobyl a few years ago.

Compare that talent to the Halo Paramount+ miniseries that came out this year, which had writers who were proud to say that they had never played the games. As if this feat gave them an edge in getting inside the character somehow. Fans weren’t pleased with several aspects of the series, including an intimate scene between two characters. It’s pretty safe to say that having people who understand the material intimately is crucial to success.

Weirdly enough, one of the biggest problems in adaptations typically ends up being that total disregard for what made it popular. Take Netflix’s Resident Evil series. It bore very little resemblance to the games it was based on, had no input from anyone from Konami, and didn’t even try to create a scary ambiance. Disregarding the source material ends up being a problem too as this adaptation fixates on anything but what makes the franchise popular. While The Witcher stayed a lot closer to the games with most fans enjoying the interpretation, it’s no secret that the success is owed in big part to getting Geralt right as a character. Gruff and disinterested in getting involved in other people’s problems, the writers paid close attention to who it was they were adapting for television.

The Network Behind It Has a Great Track Record

How many bad shows can you list to come out of HBO? Most would be hard-pressed to come up with more than a couple as they have had an incredible track record of doing whatever series they choose the justice it deserves. Everything from fantasy drama to historical fiction has been on HBO with respect for what it is.

What’s more, is that television is also the right medium for a game to play out on. It’s difficult to really fit in all the important bits of a narrative-focused 18-hour game in a two-hour movie. The Last of Us in particular had so many incredible world-building moments that happen which aren’t major story beats. Think of the scene where Joel stops in a broken building and bangs on an old rusted coffee machine, trying to make it perform one last time before sadly expressing, “I miss coffee….” It’s the little details like that that make the game so special in many ways. It’s hard to relate to what it would be like to be facing a bunch of fungus-formed people, but everyone knows the pain of a broken coffee maker. The world is more the background that some compelling characters live in as The Last of Us isn’t overly interested in being Uncharted’s action-focused romp of explosions and gunfire.

A Cast Who Looks the Part

     HBO Max/Naughty Dog

Who looked at Tom Holland and thought he looked anything like Nolan North’s Nathan Drake? Who thought that Mark Wahlberg could play Max Payne? Pedro Pascal is hardly an unknown, heading up such characters as Prince Oberyn in Game of Thrones as well as the main man from The Mandalorian. But what really gives him an advantage in the role here is his resemblance to the character himself. A strong jaw and a stern look in his eyes, he even has a similar hairline.

Nick Offerman is a pretty perfect stand-in for Bill. Bella Ramsey also looks the part of Ellie so all she really needs to do to pull it off is learn how to swear like a sailor. The cast also includes several voice actors from the game itself including Ashley Johnson who voiced Ellie, Troy Baker who voiced Joel, and Jeffrey Pierce who voice Joel’s brother Tommy. The cast seems pretty excited about the release of the show with stars extolling the show’s merits ahead of release.

Add all this together and there really are no major red flags for this project. It seems to have a lot going for it that others have not. This show can hopefully be the one to turn the tide on terrible adaptations. If nothing else, it may very well be another solid notch in Pedro Pascal’s ever-growing list of action heroes vaguely resembling a single dad.