HBO has given a full series order to the planned live-action television series adaptation of The Last of Us. The project, which is based on the hit PlayStation video game franchise, was first announced back in March.
The upcoming series has quite a bit of talent on board, with Craig Mazin, the writer and producer behind HBO's Emmy-winning series Chernobyl, working with Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann, the game's writer and creative director, to pen and executive produce the show. Chernobyl co-producer Carolyn Strauss and Naughty Dog president Evan Wells are also co-producing the series.
"Craig and Neil are visionaries in a league of their own," HBO Programming Executive VP Francesca Orsi said in a statement. "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."
Chernobyl director, Joahn Renck, was originally supposed to helm the pilot episode, but had to drop out due to a scheduling conflict.
2013's The Last of Us game throws players into a post-pandemic world ravaged by a deadly virus outbreak. The game is centered on Joel, a hardened survivor, who is hired to smuggle a 14-year-girl, Ellie, out of the oppressive quarantine zone. The two embark on brutal and heartbreaking journey across the United States with all sorts of shocking twists and turns along the way. The game won numerous awards while going on to sell more than 17 million copies across PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4.
A sequel to The Last of Us was released earlier this year. In addition to the critically-acclaimed reviews, The Last of Us Part II racked up 10 nominations at The Game Awards, including Best Game Direction, Game of the Year and two nominations in Best Performance.
The HBO adaptation will reportedly “cover the events of the original game… with the possibility of additional content based on the forthcoming game sequel [The Last of Us 2].” There were even some reports suggesting the series could run for multiple seasons.
The Last of Us is widely regarded as one of PlayStation's best exclusive franchises and seeing it come to life through a HBO series should excite fans. Now the big question is, who will be cast to play Joel and Ellie?