Television Adaptation of The Last of Us in the Works

Naughty Dog’s critically acclaimed 2013 title The Last of Us is getting a television series adaptation, and it’ll be aired on premium network HBO.

There’s currently no news on casting or when filming will take place, however it has been confirmed that the series will follow the events of the game as opposed to being a different story taking place within the same universe. The series may also feature some content from the upcoming sequel The Last of Us: Part II, but it’s too early to speculate on what that content could be.

The project also has some notable minds heading it, including Craig Mazin (creator of last year’s acclaimed mini-series Chernobyl), and the original game’s director Neil Druckmann. Veteran television producer Carolyn Strauss is also involved in the project as an executive producer, alongside Naughty Dog president Evan Wells.

The series is being developed in co-production alongside Sony Pictures Television, with co-president Chris Parnell stating: “This is the first of many shows we intend to develop with our friends at PlayStation Productions. The Last of Us is a brilliant achievement in storytelling and character development, and we are lucky to have the opportunity to work with this team to adapt it.” 2018’s God of War seems like another obvious candidate for a television adaptation, being that it too received large praise for its narrative and storytelling.

Film adaptations of popular videogames have often been met with a backlash from both critics and fans alike, yet television adaptations seem to fair slightly better as proven by Netflix’s take on Castlevania. Hopefully HBO’s The Last of Us series will continue with that trend; after all, the creators currently working on it in these early stages definitely inspire some level of confidence.

The next release for the franchise is The Last of Us Part II, which is set for a 29th May release exclusively on PlayStation 4.