The Last of Us has premiered on HBO, and it’s a hit. An adaptation of Naughty Dog’s video game series of the same name, it tells the story of a zombie apocalypse. A hardened survivor named Joel (Pedro Pascal) must escort a teenager named Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across a ruined United States in the hopes that scientists can use Ellie’s immunity to the zombie plague to create a cure.
The series is being called one of the best video game adaptations yet on record. For a long time, video game movies had a terrible reputation, so that by itself isn’t that much of an accomplishment. But if there’s any video game TV show we can see winning awards and becoming appointment viewing, it’s The Last of Us.
But it could have gone another way. What if The Last of Us aired on network TV, where the episodes came in at an even 42 minutes, the curse words were removed, and we were treated to commercials between big events? One Redditor simulated this horrifying alternate dimension:
"The Last of Us show if it wasn’t on HBO and had to cut to commercials… from thelastofus"
You know what The Last of Us is missing? Burger King commercials
Okay, I know it’s mean to laugh as Joel cradles his dying daughter in his hands…but I laughed as Joel cradled his dying daughter in his hands.
There’s something about something very serious being juxtaposed with a really goofy commercial. This is also insensitive, but it reminds of what happened on CNN during the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine:
New episodes of The Last of Us air Sundays on HBO, sans commercials.
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