The Last of Us TV Series Adaptation is Confirmed!

It’s been well documented since the beginning of the year that plans were underway to launch a pilot for a TV adaptation of the highly-popular gaming franchise ‘The Last of Us‘. Rather ironically, however, the game about a plague wiping out most of mankind was delayed by the actual arrival of COVID-19. Since then, news about the adaptation had gone fairly quiet.

Following a report via SlashFilm, however, HBO has confirmed that they’ve purchased the rights for at least one season of a ‘The Last of Us’ TV adaptation, and better still, it seems that the show has all the potential of being at least as good as Netflix’s Witcher.

The Last of Us is Coming to the Small Screen!

It has already been confirmed that the games creator, Neil Druckmann, will be largely in charge of the production alongside Craig Mazin who recently shot to (well-deserved) fame with his excellent ‘Chernobyl’ TV series. The amazing pedigree continues as it’s also been cited that Johan Renck (Chernobyl, Breaking Bad) is directing the pilot episode with two-time Oscar-winning composer Gustavo Santaolalla again picking up the reigns for the music.

Following it’s announcement, HBO has said:

“Craig and Neil are visionaries in a league of their own. With them at the helm alongside the incomparable Carolyn Strauss, this series is sure to resonate with both die-hard fans of The Last of Us games and newcomers to this genre-defining saga. We’re delighted to partner with Naughty Dog, Word Games, Sony and PlayStation to adapt this epic, powerfully immersive story.”

What Do We Know So Far?

While there are clearly more than a few aspects of the anticipated plot that have yet to be revealed, HBO has (perhaps surprisingly) gone as far as to confirm at least the rough outline of what we can expect to see:

“Based on the critically acclaimed video game “The Last of Us,” developed by Naughty Dog exclusively for the PlayStation platforms, the story takes place twenty years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse across the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.”

Without giving too much away surrounding the gaming sequel, this statement would all-but-confirm that the TV series is going to take place chronologically somewhere between the two. Unless, of course, they’re planning on going down a different narrative road which, based on the polarising opinion of The Last of Us 2, might not be such a bad idea.

Don’t get too excited about this yet though, as with filming not having even yet begun, even a 2021 release date might be more than a little optimistic! – Make no bones about it though, if done correctly (and that’s a BIG if in the realms of game to TV adaptations) this could prove to be a hugely popular series!

What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!