An HBO adaptation of Naughty Dog and Sony's popular video game The Last of Us is happening. This time, the network has given a series order to its creators and showrunners.
In a statement, HBO details a couple of big names who will be producing the show. Neill Druckmann, the game's writer and the VP of Naughty Dog, will lead the board. Craig Mazin, the series creator of the catastrophic nuclear disaster Chernobyl, will join the board as one of the executive producers. Carolyn Strauss from Chernobyl and Game of Thrones is also set to aid the development.
"Craig and Neil are visionaries in a league of their own," Francesca Orsi, the executive VP of HBO Programming, said.
Confirmed Characters and Storyline
The Last of Us is Joel and Ellie's story, so the HBO adaptation would not make any sense if the two unique characters do not appear in the series.
In a tweet, Neill Druckmann confirmed that the HBO series would feature some of the in-game heroes and heroines: Tess, Marlene, Maria, and Ellie's girlfriend from Left Behind DLC, Riley. There is a redacted character with four letters, which many fans ended up guessing would be Anna, Ellie's mother.
The Last of Us HBO adaptation centers around "twenty years after modern civilization has been destroyed." It's a more definitive side of the story, which will cover the original 2013 game's events with additional bits here and there.
Joel, a hardened survivor with a few moral lines to cross, is tasked to smuggle the only immune creature on the planet, a 14-year-old Ellie, to create a vaccine. It's a story of how far one could go to protect their loved ones, even if it means breaching the moral lines and killing innocent lives.
Release Date
HBO is yet to announce a release date for The Last of Us series, but it's safe to expect somewhen in 2021 or 2022.
With The Last of Us Part II's release last June, writers and showrunners are now free to maneuver and focus on the series. There isn't any update to be dug out about it, but writer Craig Mazin has ensured that everybody's been working hard after Part II's release to finish the project.
"We're going to dig in in full, full earnest once they wrap up their final work on the sequel," he said on his podcast.
The Last of Us game and its Part II sequel are exclusively available on Sony's PlayStation 4. A version for the next-gen console, PS5, is coming upon its availability.
