The Last of Us TV show

Variety calls the show “a promising, moving zombie saga”, stating: “What works about The Last of Us works well enough that one sees the near future in which the ...

It contributes to the feeling of watching someone else’s replay.” “They were just people. Last month the show’s co-creator and co-writer Craig Mazin made headlines when he claimed that The Last of Us is “ “One episode completely shifts the game’s canon, but some scenes get recreated shot-for-shot,” it explains. [Empire](https://www.empireonline.com/tv/reviews/the-last-of-us/) calls it “comfortably the best adaptation of a video-game ever made”, declaring it “a superb example of how to make an adaptation work, how to retain the elements of what worked while having the confidence to explore bold new avenues, to expand the universe, to make a thing that stands on its own two feet”. The first reviews of HBO’s TV adaptation of The Last of Us have started appearing, and they’re widely positive.

Based on the PlayStation game, about a man and a teenage girl travelling through the US during a zombie apocalypse, this HBO show is a remarkable ...

There are certain scenes early on that feel too gamey for television (such as those where Joel and Ellie are sneaking around a museum), while the latter half of the series feels like it needs one more episode to even out the pace (scenes involving the infected are strangely scarce beyond episode five). It is a sentiment that is turned inside-out in episodes four and five, which follow Joel and Ellie as they make their way through the aftermath of a bloody uprising against an especially fascistic branch of FEDRA in Kansas City. These episodes also feature some of the show's best action sequences, including a huge set-piece involving the infected that is as grisly and gripping as any in the game. The show essentially lives or dies on the casting of Ellie, who is as playful and profane as she is endearingly obnoxious. Set across two decades, it follows paranoid prepper Bill (Nick Offerman) as he strikes up a relationship with Frank (The White Lotus' Murray Bartlett), a man who stumbles into one of his many traps. But Pascal is also a sensitive, soulful actor, and seeing Joel soften and thaw throughout the series is one of its great pleasures. The humour is much needed in the bleak, violent world that they traverse, where people are just as dangerous as the infected. It is a faithful adaptation in everything from look to score to feel, with the early episodes in particular following the game almost beat-for-beat. It is around this time that we're reintroduced to an older, more grizzled Joel, changed by the things he has had to do to survive. It follows a hardened smuggler named Joel, played in the show by Pedro Pascal, who has been tasked with escorting across the country Ellie (Bella Ramsey), a teenage girl with an apparent rare immunity to the infection. In an interview with The New Yorker, creator Neil Druckmann recalled how, in 2014, a film adaptation fell through because executives wanted to make it bigger and "sexier", like the Brad Pitt film World War Z. Neither of which is the case for HBO's remarkable nine-part adaptation of The Last of Us, generally regarded as one of the greatest video game stories ever told.

The HBO adaptation of the hit Naughty Dog game is so good, it's hard to believe it's an adaptation at all.

The Walking Dead outbreak is dead, and The Last of Us is the cure. To bastardize a quote from yet another video game: this is The Last of Us’ final form. It’s a director’s cut of an already huge story, and a prestige TV treatment of a prestige game. It’s a subtle touch, but it makes the action feel, not like a future possibility, but an alternate universe of what could have been. The episode is a tearjerker on par with Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Pedro Pascal is a natural as the gruff-yet-paternal Joel, and Bella Ramsey keeps the same wiseass middle-school sass as Ellie. The cinematography, never afraid to do an ultra-close-up or a long tracking shot, is something other video game adaptations could only dream of. Even if you’ve never even heard of The Last of Us, this show is revolutionary in a completely different way. Much like in the game, those environments often evoke the spring 2020 “nature is healing” photos, but the series does much more than just show overgrown hotels and museums. The fungal-based outbreak is surprisingly scientific, even more terrifying, and shown with both the game’s original vision and HBO’s high-budget production value. The game’s story was limited to Joel and Ellie’s journey because they are the characters the character controls. Granted, we’re not even two weeks into 2023, but from the first minute of the whopping 80-minute pilot, it’s hard to see anything else even reaching the same league.

The story focuses primarily on two characters: Joel and Ellie, the protagonists of Naughty Dog's PlayStation hit, setting forth on a desperate quest that ...

I had high hopes for The Last Of Us and I’m happy that I haven’t been—so far, at least. Music—like scent—has a way of drawing us back in time, and the moment those strings are plucked I’m back in 2013, playing The Last Of Us for the very first time. And finally, there is the horror of it all. I made this mistake with House Of The Dragon, binging as much of it as I had access to—and then discovering that the show was simply better week-to-week rather than all at once. The hordes of zombies, all existing in what is effectively a fungal hive-mind. That means expanding the stories of a number of more minor characters as well, including Tess (Anna Torv), Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett). There’s a scene in the opening minutes of HBO’s new drama that’s taken straight out of the video game. There are other moments like that, but mostly HBO’s adaptation of the video game takes its own way down a familiar road. The shot in the show is identical to the game. The show begins—after a brief scene set in the 1960s—at the outset of this terrifying pandemic, but jumps ahead 20 more years in the first episode, which is when the real story kicks off—in 2023, as it happens. Ten years after the release of the game. HBO’s The Last Of Us is a beautiful production with a terrifying premise: A mysterious cordyceps fungus has begun to spread, infecting humans across the globe and turning them into—for all intents and purposes—zombies.

When we compare the game and the TV adaptation, I have to admit: the HBO version sometimes steals the show.

But as someone who admires the original game and what it achieved, HBO’s “The Last of Us” is still a fascinating and enjoyable ride through an old familiar adventure tale, powered by actors who honor the original vision. A previous version of this article misspelled the surname of the actress who plays Ellie. There is a nagging sense that some minor changes to dialogue were made just for the sake of change, and it’s hard for me, as someone who’s digested the game thoroughly for years, to parse whether they work better. Many of the episodic emotional cliffhangers from the first game are, again, echoed in the show. The zombies in “The Last of Us” aren’t the undead. The heartbreaking first 15 minutes of the game are depicted here, and Pascal’s performance underscores the blooming heartache that would fester into a shriveled, diminished soul. Like the game, Mazin and Druckmann’s reworked TV version is not an ensemble story; this is no “The Walking Dead.” Instead, it is laser-focused on the budding relationship between two people who want nothing to do with each other. And like in the game, it portrays this all with earnestness and not an ounce of irony. HBO’s “The Last of Us,” adapted by showrunner Craig Mazin (of “Chernobyl” fame) and Naughty Dog’s co-president, Neil Druckmann, will likely not draw the same ire. For example, the brothers Sam and Henry — already pivotal characters from the game — are given a far more extensive story that explains their plight and their reasons for wanting to join Joel and Ellie. The nine episodes follow the exact same story beats and almost the same locations as the original game too. HBO’s “The Last of Us” places a lot of faith in its source material’s writing.

Well, I had a feeling that a combination of HBO, Chernobyl writer Craig Mazin and game director Neil Druckmann would all combine to create a solid ...

Here, in The Last of Us, you have the same storyline, and in some places, the exact same script being used onscreen. “HBO’s “The Last of Us” places a lot of faith in its source material’s writing. What you’re hearing is a collective sigh of relief from fans who were worried that somehow, despite the talent involved, this would get screwed up. The mantra that it needed to be extremely faithful to the original seems to have panned out, and the result is an extremely high-quality series that looks to be a new flagship for HBO going forward. The apocalyptic landscape from the game—toppled skyscrapers overgrown with vines and fungus; a grey cement world gone to green—creates a strikingly distinct setting. The show stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as Joel and Ellie, two survivors navigating bandits and fungal-based zombies in a ruined America.

Joel and Ellie have made their silver screen debut, but is the show any good? Connor Makar avatar. News by Connor Makar Staff Writer.

[Radio Times](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sci-fi/the-last-of-us-tv-show-review/)- 5/5 [Hollywood Reporter](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/the-last-of-us-hbo-1235292687/)- Positive: “Well, you’ve done pretty well indeed, The Last of Us.” [Digital Spy](https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a42429477/last-of-us-review-tv/)- 5/5 [Empire](https://www.empireonline.com/tv/reviews/the-last-of-us/)- 5/5 [Variety](https://variety.com/2023/tv/reviews/the-last-of-us-hbo-review-1235480139/)- Positive: “...what works about “The Last of Us” works well enough that one sees the near future in which the show winds up among television’s best.” [Collider](https://collider.com/the-last-of-us-hbo-review/)- A+ [NME](https://www.nme.com/reviews/tv-reviews/the-last-of-us-review-pedro-pascal-bella-ramsey-3376317)- 4/5 [IGN](https://www.ign.com/articles/the-last-of-us-season-1-review)- Positive: “HBO’s The Last of Us is a breathtaking adaptation of one of the most impactful stories told in video games and brilliantly brings Joel and Ellie’s journey to a whole new audience.” [Gamespot](https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/the-last-of-us-hbo-show-review-faithful-additive-and-excellent/1900-6418015/)- 9/10 [BBC](https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230109-the-last-of-us-review-the-best-video-game-adaptation-ever)- 4/5 [Inverse](https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/the-last-of-us-review-hbo)- Positive: “This series is its best-case scenario — the original creator, a proven HBO visionary, an A-list cast, and a script that found every heartstring it could possibly pull. Based on the hit video game by Naughty Dog, you follow the story of Joel and Ellie as they venture through a treacherous North America, running into all sort of perilous hurdles along the way. To bastardize a quote from yet another video game: this is The Last of Us’ final form.” [Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2023/01/10/hbos-the-last-of-us-review/?sh=14c708df7ea9)- Positive: “There’s something about being a part of the story that a TV show simply can’t replicate. But TV has its own strengths, and showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have done a remarkable job adapting the game to screen.” [Rolling Stone](https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-reviews/the-last-of-us-review-hbo-zombies-neil-druckmann-pedro-pascal-bella-ramsey-1234655768/)- Positive: “I’ve never played the game, but Druckmann and Mazin have turned it into something that works incredibly well as a television show.” [Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/reviews/the-last-of-us-hbo-season-1-review/)- Positive: “When I compare the two stories, and the artistic choices made to differentiate the show from the game, I have to admit: the HBO version sometimes steals the show.” [The Verge](https://www.theverge.com/23543145/hbo-the-last-of-us-review)- Fine: “HBO’s new series is extremely fine. The Last of Us releases on January 15 for the USA, and January 16 in the EU. You can click through and read them yourself below: The Last of Us HBO reviews The Last of Us HBO series reviews have dropped, giving all of us an early insight into the quality of Joel and Ellie’s adventure into the living rooms and televisions of fans of curious newcomers all across the world. The Last of US is a post-apocalyptic series where With this The Last of Us HBO review round-up, we’ve compiled many of the biggest reviews for the show, so that you can see the critical consensus and begin diving into early reviews, all from one page. [fungal monsters have overwhelmed the majority of the world](https://www.vg247.com/hbos-the-last-of-us-will-show-us-more-of-life-before-the-apocalypse-hit). The Last of Us TV show review round up: 'Among television's best."

The Last of Us, HBO's mega-money adaptation of Naughty Dog's post-apocalyptic PlayStation odyssey, isn't just the best video game adaptation ever made.

[Pedro Pascal](https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/pedro-pascal-interview-2022), the internet's favourite gruff dad, was lined up to play Joel, the internet's other favourite gruff dad. We begin the series from the perspective of Sarah (Nico Parker), a young girl living in rural Texas with her dad, Joel, and her uncle, Tommy (Gabriel Luna). For one, we begin in 2003, America very much in the new age of terror (they've seen nothing yet, of course), rather than 2013. [video game](https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/gallery/best-games-2023) adaptations, even when everything is there to suggest otherwise. The game itself is considered one of, if not the best ever made. Take [The Last of Us](https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/the-last-of-us-tv-series), HBO's mega-money gambit to bring one of the most celebrated masterpieces of the genre to the small screen.

Here's what the critics think about HBO's video game adaptation.

"Comfortably the best adaptation of a video-game ever made: one that deepens the game's dystopian lore, while staying true to its emotional core. "HBO's The Last of Us is a breathtaking adaptation of one of the most impactful stories told in video games and brilliantly brings Joel and Ellie's journey to a whole new audience. Taking the essence of what made the original tale so enduring, it builds out the world of the game while also switching up some aspects to almost entirely stunning effect." "It stands proudly as one of the best video game adaptations ever, and a clear signal that PlayStation is right to pursue a future where its already reputable video games are reborn on TV. The show is brought to life by a cast and crew that seems hellbent on living up to its name and their own already-glowing reputations." What do critics think of the video game adaptation?

One of the most cinematic games of all time is Sony and Naughty Dog's "The Last of Us," which launched in 2013 and became an instant critical and commercial hit ...

In many ways, it's a perfect story for where we are in 2023, picking up the pieces of the last few years and finding what's important to us again. I wanted a little more building, and the show rushes the final two episodes in a way that made me wonder if that's where most of the compression happened when it lost a chapter from the initial ten episodes that Mazin said would happen back in July 2021. In terms of storytelling and design, the show will be very familiar to gamers, almost too much at times. After a chilling prologue in which an expert on a talk show offers his belief that the world-ending pandemic will be fungal and not viral, "The Last of Us" opens properly in 2003, hours before society's collapse. [Pedro Pascal](/cast-and-crew/pedro-pascal)), an Austin-based contractor, and his brother Tommy ( [Gabriel Luna](/cast-and-crew/gabriel-luna)). It's a fascinating deconstruction of the game that leans on character and storytelling instead of action, and it does so in a way that's confidently grounded.

Bloody Disgusting's review of the HBO TV series The Last of Us praises a triumphant and heart-shattering video game adaptation.

Higuchi and Anno, who understand the ins and outs of their subject, deliver a visually striking and, at times, affecting love letter to Ultraman and his creators. Anyone who prefers the classic Ultraman series and their spiritual precursor, Ultra Q, to the more recent properties will have a lot to feast on in this film. Right from the outset is a montage of familiar kaijū whose cameos will stoke nostalgia and wonder. The film then moves on to its stunning introduction to Ultraman himself. “The Last of Us” isn’t afraid to ask challenging questions with no easy answers; or no answers at all. At its core, it remains firmly committed to exploring the remnants of humanity in the wake of an apocalyptic event. It’s a deeply human story that often seeks to explore the intricate minutiae of humanity in the quiet stretches. The introduction to their everyday existence coincides with a bizarre Cordyceps mutation that cataclysmically destroys modern civilization and plunges the world into a bleak dystopia. “The Last of Us” covers so much ground, narratively and geographically, breathing new life into the zombie story. Bella Ramsey’s Ellie is a complex teen who exudes vivacious youth while internalizing the weight of the world. Joel is a textbook antihero, prone to making ruthless choices in the name of survival and, occasionally, love. That cargo comes in the form of young Ellie (Bella Ramsey).