Very exciting news today, via The Hollywood Reporter: HBO's moving forward with a TV series based on The Last of Us, with Chernobyl's Craig Mazin on board to co-write and executive produce the series alongside Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann, who served as the game's creative director.
A while back, there'd been some chatter about turning The Last of Us into a feature film, but that project never got over the starting line. Reapproaching the property as an ongoing series strikes us as a much better idea, and doubly so considering who they've got shepherding it onto screens. I mean, have you seen Chernobyl? Mazin's gonna crush this material, and he'll be doing it alongside someone who knows the property better than anyone.
For the uninitiated, The Last of Us takes place in a post-apocalyptic version of our world, one that's been ravaged by a fucked-up fungus ("Cordyceps") which takes over human bodies and turns them into violent, sound-sensitive mutants. The plot revolves around a smuggler named Joel who attempts to transport a young girl named Ellie out of the quarantined zone and into the arms of safety. Turns out, Ellie may hold the key to curing that mutant fungus strain, and in this world there's plenty of people - and horrifying creatures! - who'd like to see Joel fail in that mission.
As a game, The Last of Us was an incredible experience, both emotionally and on a technical level. Monsters, levels, and set pieces are all executed with all the polish you'd expect from a Naughty Dog game, but the emotional core at the center of the game is what really made it sing. This is one of the few games whose final moments left me in tears (Tears! Over a video game! I know some of you have a hard time imagining that, but it does happen!), and it's that emotional core that could make the Last of Us TV series a full-blown powerhouse.
Team BMD is very, very excited about this project. We don't know when it'll arrive, who'll star in it, or when we might actually get to see it, but rest assured that we'll be keeping close tabs on this one, and will keep you informed as further updates roll in. In the meantime, celebrate this awesome news with us via the comments below.