Will ‘The Last Of Us’ TV Show Live Up To Video Game Roots
February 12, 2023
The 2013 Playstation video game, “The Last of Us” was recently adapted as a television series, currently streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes every Sunday at 9 p.m.
“The Last of Us,” an action-adventure story that follows the characters Joel and Ellie during a post-pandemic world and their fight for survival, broke the charts after its release to the public.
In 2014, the Naughty Dog and Sony Interactive Entertainment game won 11 awards, one of them being the BAFTA Games Award for Best Game. The game quickly became one of the best-selling video-games, selling over 1.3 million copies in the first week, and 17 million by April 2018.
It didn’t take long for the entertainment industry to adapt the storyline as a show. In 2020, HBO announced that they would be developing the game as a television series. “The Last of Us” premiered on Jan. 15, tracking 15-million views per episode.
Following its debut, HBO has now released three episodes. Fans of the video game are watching to see if the show follows the storyline in its entirety.
During the show’s premiere, characters Joel and Ellie are introduced with a direct reflection of the game’s characters; Joel being a father who lost his daughter and Ellie as a rebellious orphan. The two meet in the same scenario as the game suggests and their story begins on screen.
While, “The Last of Us,” is predicted to be the best live-action adaptation of a video game to date, fans were confused with Episode 3 as the storyline diverts to Bill; a side character who had little to no storyline in the game.
Fans learned more about Bill’s character than they ever have before, with a revealed love interest, Frank, who happens to be another insignificant character in the video game. Nonetheless, aside from these changes, the first three episodes seem promising to the success of the show portraying the video game. Joel and Ellie are on track with their character developments and their dynamic as friends, and just like the video game, it all takes place in modern day.
Season 1 of “The Last of Us” has had an impressive start, but with the changes already made in episode 3, fans are watching carefully to see if the show lives up to its expectations. HBO has huge shoes to fill with the emotional story of Joel and Ellie but has six more episodes to do it.
