The Last of Us: How HBO series compares to best-selling game original
As captivates audiences and critics around the world, with some that will be aired this year.
HBO appears to have struck gold with the show, which following a global pandemic that has turned millions of people into fungus-infected zombies.
The first episode been seen by more than 22million viewers since it premiered in the United States – the network’s second largest debut since 2010 behind House of the Dragon – and .
The series is based on an , and some critics have already hailed it as the best video game adaptation of all time.
HBO’s The Last of Us follows Pedro Pascal’s Joel as he escorts Bella Ramsey’s Ellie (pictured above) through a post-apocalyptic United States
The series is based on a video game of the same name which has broadly the same plot.Pictured above: Ellie and Joel in the video game
Adapting video games onto TV or film has always proved challenging, with some proving more successful than others.
The Last of Us video game, Fethiye Escort which was released in 2013 by publisher Naughty Dog, earned accolades and received widespread praise for its storyline, visuals, gameplay and characters.
HBO bought the rights to adapt the property after a joint pitch by Craig Mazin, who had directed hit show Chernobyl, and Neil Druckmann, who was a writer and creative director of the original game.
Many fans were eager to see how the show would translate onto the screen, including which actors would portray the characters they had grown to know and love.
So how do the characters from the video game stack up compared to their TV versions?
Joel Miller (Pedro Pascal)
Joel Miller (pictured left in the game and right in the TV series) is tasked with escorting a teenage girl across a post-apocalyptic United States in the show
Chilean-American actor Pedro Pascal first got his big break in another HBO series, Game of Thrones, where he portrayed the swaggering and charismatic Oberyn Martell.
In the series he plays Joel Miller, the smuggler tasked with escorting a teenage girl across the United States and protecting her from fungus-infected humans, as well as raiders and vigilantes.
Pascal claimed he ignored instructions from producers not to play the, told the : ‘I seriously considered that maybe I don’t want to be famous so I’m not going to do this show because it’s going propel me to a place I don’t want to go to in terms of being seen and being known.’
Sarah (pictured left in the TV series and right in the video game) is the daughter of protagonist Joel
Despite only appearing briefly in the game and in one episode of the series, Sarah’s death at the beginning of the narrative casts a large shadow over Joel.
As the plot progresses, Joel begins to see a lot of his daughter in Ellie, as he confronts his grief over tragic killing by soldiers during the early stages of the outbreak.
In the series the daughter of Thandiwe Newton, who proved a huge hit with viewers who were taken in by her compelling performance.
One fan wrote: ‘The last of us is perfectly casted so far but Nico Parker’s performance as Sarah was phenomenal.THAT scene broke me.’
Bill (Nick Offerman)
Bill (pictured left in the game and right in the TV series) is a survivalist with a connection to Joel
One of the biggest changes to the plot so far has come in the character of Bill, a survivalist who along with his partner Frank made it through the pandemic in a town outside Boston.
In the game Bill teams up with Joel and Ellie as he helps them on their journey west, having been abandoned some time ago by Frank for unknown reasons.It is later revealed Frank killed himself after becoming infected.
In the series Bill is no longer alive when Joel and Ellie arrive at his compound, having committed suicide along with Frank some months earlier as his husband’s health failed.
Comedic actor Nick Offerman, best known for his role in Parks & Recreation, was cast to play Bill in the series, and in episode three, .
Tess ‘Tessa’ Servopoulos (Anna Torv)
Tessa (pictured left in the TV series and right in the video game) is Joel’s partner in the series
Tessa is Joel’s long-term smuggling partner in The Last of Us, often seen as the brains to his muscle in their two-person enterprise.
Portrayed in the series by Australian actress Anna Torv, Tessa is shown to be a courageous and resourceful woman in both depictions of the character, who sadly dies as she and Joel try to get Ellie to a rendezvous with militant group the Fireflies.
Tessa dies after becoming infected with Cordyceps, although she is killed by Government forces in the game, instead of heroically blowing herself up to buy Joel and Ellie time to escape from a horde of ‘clickers’ as she does in the show.
In the HBO adaptation Tessa is on the receiving end of a , which show runner Mazin called ‘nightmare fuel’.
Marlene (Merle Dandrige)
Marlene (pictured left in the game and right in the TV series) is the leader of an anti-government group called the Fireflies
As leader of the Fireflies, Marlene is introduced to viewers and players as an anti-totalitarian freedom fighter who is the person who sets Joel and Ellie off on their journey together.
She was portrayed in the game and in the TV series by actress Merle Dandridge, who was the only actor involved in the video game to be involved in the show.
Dandridge said she was ‘deeply, deeply honoured and thrilled’ to get the call to says she would be coming back and remarked her perfor: ‘I tried to absorb [from the games] what I believed to be important and what the gamers are going to hope for in a true translation of the game.’
