How The Last of Us changes (and stays true to) the original game

The Last of Us just premiered on HBO, and already it’s being called the best video game adaptation ever. We’re only one episode in, but I can’t say I disagree.

Part of that is the show doesn’t change a ton from the game, which already put a lot of focus on story. The Last of Us is about a zombie apocalypse. Hardened survivor Joel (Pedro Pascal) finds himself escorting teenager Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across a ruined United States. It’s a simple setup that zeroes in on the characters, and HBO didn’t have to do much to it for it to work onscreen. There are parts that are almost exactly the same, like the early scene where Joel, his daughter Sarah (Nico Parker) and brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) drive through Austin as society collapses around them.

“It was written in the script that whole thing is a oner,” Luna told SyFy Wire. “We very much tried to take inspiration, and in our execution, make the audience feel what we feel as players witnessing all that happens through Sarah’s eyes.”

"[In that truck], I’m not driving. We have a full dune buggy pod on top of the Silverado that connects to the drive train to control the vehicle. Our stunt driver was phenomenal. I don’t know how you do that, drive from the top of the car! But that allowed us to go full 360 with the camera, and Ksenia Sereda, our DP, is in the back able to turn every direction, so all of that technique helped to recreate the beginning of the game very accurately."

Watch a heartbreaking moment from The Last of Us side by side with the video game

And then there’s the heartbreaking moment where Sarah is shot by a soldier ordered to kill civilians who may be infected with the zombie plague. The scene where Sarah dies in Joel’s arms is basically unchanged from the game, and even more brutal:

Fans of the games probably know there are more moments like this coming. Grab the tissues.

What HBO added to The Last of Us

That said, there are differences between the game and the show. We spend a lot more time with Tommy in that opening segment, for instance. “Yes, you get to see Tommy in his natural habitat, so to speak,” Luna said. “Being a part of his very small, tight knit family and to be alive in a world we all recognize before it all comes tumbling down. And that’s something you don’t necessarily get to see in the game. When you meet Tommy [there], he’s already in the throes of the action. In our show, we get to show you the calm before the storm and that was exciting and really fun to explore. To do with just a few lines and a few moments together as a family, the heavy lifting of making our audience fall in love with the Millers. We needed those moments. And that was really, really exciting for me to explore.”

There was also a new prologue section set, of all things, in the ’60s. We drop in on a talk show where a scientist talks about a potential fungal plague that could happen if the climate changed enough to allow this particular fungus to live inside human beings. It’s a segment that touches on our real-world fears of pandemics and climate change, and is definitely a chilling way to start the show.

“[I]t’s easy for an audience now to, justifiably, when they hear the word pandemic, cross their arms and go, ‘Well, I’ve just lived through one, so I don’t care.’ Part of what we needed to get across was: ‘Not like this,'” said showrunner Craig Mazin. “It was important to also show that it had always been there. Cordyceps has been waiting. We were warned and we were told.”

"I generally find myself being scared when scientists are scared. And so there was a chance to really explain to people the beauty and the horror of this very real thing. I mean, this is absolutely real. And to give them a sense of coming dread; unavoidable, inevitable dread. And then fast forward them to the day it finally happened."

New episodes of The Last of Us drop Sundays on HBO.

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