I really hope this series is as good as the game was. The newly released teaser of HBO’s The Last of Us looked really good as it seems HBO has nailed the harrowing and haunting atmosphere and tone that the award-winning game mastered.
I hope I’m not getting ahead of myself, but this teaser has me super hyped for his series.
I was already a MASSIVE fan of the original The Last of Us and its subsequent DLC, Left Behind, so I was very skeptical about HBO’s ability to capture the tone, atmosphere, and meaning behind the world and characters of the franchise when I first heard it was being adapted.
It’s a mystery to me why so many video game-inspired projects by these huge Hollywood studios have been utter failures and insults to the original source material, such as Mortal Kombat (all of the adaptations, really), Tomb Raider (2018), Warcraft, the many, many Resident Evils, and that abomination Super Mario movie from the 90s.
Simply put, Hollywood studios and video game usually franchises blend as well as mayonnaise and Girl Scout Cookies. They just don’t mix.
However, HBO is entirely different than the ‘average’ Hollywood studio.
Instead of pandering to a certain audience or some corporate studio head, HBO has proven that it allows its directors, creators, writers, showrunners, cinematographers, etc. to make the movies and TV shows that they want to make, rather than something the HBO studio executives believe will work well with the general audience.
Otherwise, we wouldn’t have gotten Game of Thrones, Euphoria, Succession, The Sopranos, Rome, House of the Dragon, Chernobyl, Deadwood, Sex and The City, Veep, Curb Your Enthusiasm, John Adams, Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, Band of Brothers, the Wire…do I need to continue?
HBO is a great studio and has produced fantastic shows and movies, and I hope they will do the same with The Last of Us.
Nevertheless, going back to the teaser, there really wasn’t much to sink one’s detective teeth into as it was mainly a mashup of unrelated, interesting, fast paced shots with Hank Williams’ Alone And Forsaken playing over them.
Though, what I can say is that they have nailed the cinematography and set design of The Last of Us’ dystopian USA. The limited shots we got of the various places all looked run down, abandoned, neglected, and just downright depressing. And it was amazing to see.
Also, I really like the casting of Pedro Pascal as Joel. Pascal is one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood today as he’s been in countless hit TV shows and portrayed such iconic characters, such as Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones, Din Djarin in The Mandalorian, and Javier Pena in Narcos, just to name a few.
I’m positive he is going to be great as Joel as he not only kind of looks like him (well, the 2022 version of Joel), but also sounded just like Troy Baker (Joel’s voice actor in The Last of Us) in a past teaser.
(HBO-The Last of Us-Official Teaser)
However, I’m a little more skeptical about Bella Ramsay as Ellie.
To be honest, she doesn’t’ look like Ellie at all regardless of the game model version.
Now, that’s not an indictment about Ramsay’s acting ability as she is a fantastic actress, but it is a little off putting when I’ve been seeing one version of Ellie for the past ten years.
Still, I’m saving all of my judgment of her portrayal until I see the show, but I have faith that she will do a great job as she not only was fantastic in all of the movies/shows I’ve seen her in so far, but also that HBO never fails to cast good actors and actresses.
I really hope HBO succeeded in making a great The Last of Us show. This could very well be the next Walking Dead (well, the first few seasons that is) or World War Z, if not better, if HBO takes its time and stays faithful to the source material.
We’ll have to wait and see for 2023 when this show comes out.
Images Source: Featured Image: (HBO) (The Last of Us | Official Teaser | HBO Max – YouTube)
In Text Image 1: (HBO) (The Last of Us | Official Teaser | HBO Max – YouTube)
