HBO's The Last Of Us: The Show vs The Game

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00:00One of the most beloved video game franchises of all time,

00:03The Last of Us is a harrowing and beautiful story of love, loss, and survival.

00:08And now, fans of the game have a whole new way to experience it

00:11with the highly anticipated release of the HBO series of the same name.

00:15But they've been cautiously optimistic, and for good reason.

00:19If you don't think there's hope for the world, why bother going on?

00:24There's been a long history of video games being adapted into film and TV series

00:28that were more often bad than good, and never really great.

00:32On top of this reasonable trepidation,

00:34The Last of Us video game franchise has been put in a difficult spot

00:37after the release of its second installment, The Last of Us Part II.

00:40While some thought the game was brilliant,

00:42others felt it was a huge creative misfire,

00:45leaving many wondering if the show itself would be an honest and well-done retelling

00:48of the original game, or just another disappointment.

00:52If you've come this far, then you know it's out there.

00:56Thankfully, after just one 90-minute premiere episode,

00:59it seems like the series could finally break the video game adaptation curse.

01:04Lorraine Ali of The LA Times puts The Last of Us in a league of its own

01:08when it comes to video game adaptations, and notes,

01:11there's tenderness in this hellscape, and the meaningful relationships

01:14between characters makes us care about them from the first few moments of the show.

01:18Here's our take on why The Last of Us is poised to be the first great video game adaptation

01:23by avoiding the pitfalls of its predecessors, and by winning over gamers first.

01:28So, is this everything you were hoping for?

01:36Episode 1 spoilers ahead.

01:38Fans of the game have been dazzled by the near-mirror images

01:42the show created of the sets and camera angles,

01:44but the real feat is how the show has enriched the source material.

01:48From the moment HBO's The Last of Us starts,

01:50fans of the game can feel that something is different.

01:53The first episode begins with a title card over black that reads,

01:561968, a time we've never been to in the game version of The Last of Us,

02:00an unspecified fictional late-night talk show where a host talks to scientists

02:04playfully about the potential threat of a pandemic.

02:07A new virus in Madagascar, say, could be in Chicago within a matter of weeks,

02:10and we end up with a global pandemic.

02:12Pan meaning all, the whole world becomes sick all at once.

02:15Those that have played the game know that this disease is what will plague the world of the show,

02:20and in the opening credits, the music that plays is the exact music played over the games.

02:24While the animation may be different,

02:26it gives those that have played an immediate surge of nostalgia and comfort.

02:30From the very first scene, the show has succeeded at the delicate balancing act

02:33of adding and enriching the story to those who have seen it before,

02:36and immersing a new audience that is now seeing the story for the first time.

02:40Instead of jumping into the night of Joel's birthday,

02:43we are given more exposition that helps us understand his character.

02:46He's a hard-working, no-nonsense guy,

02:48whose charm is pulled out by the warmth of his daughter, Sarah.

02:51We follow Sarah throughout the day, scenes that are not present in the game,

02:55but help the audience connect with her,

02:56undoubtedly to make the impact of her death all the more devastating

03:00for first-time viewers and long-time gamers.

03:03You're okay, move your hand, baby.

03:07I know, baby, I know, I know, I know, I know.

03:10Throughout the episode, new and existing audiences alike

03:13are treated to original, never-before-seen characters,

03:15a more defined romance between Joel and Tess,

03:18and even a twist on the virus itself.

03:20Creator Craig Mazin explained the choice to nix the infamous spores from the show,

03:24saying,

03:25In the world that we're creating, if we put spores in the air,

03:28it would be pretty clear that they would spread around everywhere,

03:31and everybody would have to wear a mask all the time,

03:33and probably everybody would be completely infected by that point.

03:36So we challenged ourselves to come up with an interesting new way for the fungus to spread.

03:40It's these subtle differences that have managed to keep fans happy,

03:43while also drawing in new audiences,

03:46both eager to watch the more layered story unfold.

03:49You can create this whole narrative in your brain that then you get to follow through with.

03:53But will the success of the first episode carry through the series,

03:57especially when so many video game adaptations in the past have failed?

04:03Video game franchises have been plagued with bad adaptations for years,

04:07from the 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie to 2016's Assassin's Creed.

04:12Meanwhile, novels, short stories, and comic books have been adapted time and time again

04:16into some of our most beloved movies and TV shows of all time.

04:19So why is it that when video games are the source material, they seem to flop?

04:23Oh, that was terrible.

04:25Some point to the fact that it's difficult to turn a player into a viewer.

04:29Video games give their players agency,

04:31the ability to manipulate the world around them and drive the story.

04:34One aspect that The Last of Us game has going for it is the fact that it's linear.

04:38While players can choose how they'll explore the world laid out for them,

04:41they can't choose the order in which their adventure plays out,

04:44and there's only one ending for everyone.

04:46You just hang back like I told you to.

04:50Well, you're glad I didn't, right?

04:52When examining video game adaptation failures,

04:54others point to the fact that video games themselves are already so influenced by film

04:59and television, with some of the best franchises being heralded for feeling like you're in a movie.

05:03So when there's an attempt to turn that cinematic video game essentially back into a film,

05:08it ends up feeling like more unoriginal Hollywood fodder.

05:11Naughty Dog, the video game company that created The Last of Us,

05:14ran into this issue with its other tentpole franchise-turned movie, Uncharted.

05:18The game borrows a lot of its story and thematic elements from Indiana Jones,

05:22and people love it for that very reason.

05:24But its big screen adaptation left fans and critics alike

05:27feeling like it was just a lesser version of superior adventure films.

05:31Oh, that was something.

05:32The game itself is so expertly cinematic,

05:34it was heralded as one of the first video games to truly feel like you were playing a movie.

05:39Uncharted 2's train sequence is widely known as one of the most thrilling moments in video game history,

05:44because it had never been done so well before.

05:47By comparison, if you see a train sequence in a film,

05:49it's been done so many times before.

05:51It's nearly impossible to stand out.

05:53There's a cover of safety latch.

05:55It can only be released from underneath the car.

05:58Another issue with Uncharted that video game adaptations often run into was its casting.

06:03From the moment Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg were cast as Nate and Sully,

06:06fans were disappointed, and rightfully so.

06:09It was immediately clear that the film was focusing on billable stars

06:12more than it was on casting people who were true to the essence of the original characters.

06:17I'm sorry?

06:18Max Payne had a similar problem when they cast Mila Kunis as Russian hitwoman Mona Sachs.

06:23While all of these actors are talented in their own right,

06:26their casting showed a fundamental misunderstanding of the source material

06:30that bled into the rest of the production.

06:32Max Payne, the game, was inspired by John Woo films,

06:34but the movie was more of a derivative pseudo-noir, which ultimately fell flat.

06:39My character's Russian, but she was Russian way before I was involved.

06:42So that just kind of worked out well.

06:45So many of these adaptations seem to miss what made the original so great,

06:48and that could have to do with the fact that no one from the game is involved in its creation.

06:53Video games are often so expansive that it's impossible to pack all of a franchise's lore

06:57into a single film or limited series.

06:59And with so many niche games made for specific pockets of the gaming community,

07:04gamers can become gatekeepers of these beloved franchises.

07:07So it should be no surprise that video game adaptations produced with such little investment

07:11or care, created for audiences that care a lot, bomb time and time again.

07:16HBO's The Last of Us has been a different beast entirely,

07:23with the creator of the first and second game, Neil Druckmann, behind the project from the start.

07:27The show's cast even includes Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson,

07:30the original voice actors of the games, in roles more essential than just cameos.

07:34The series stays true to the game by following its two central characters,

07:38Joel and Ellie, played by Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey.

07:41The pair trek across a desolate United States in a post-apocalyptic world

07:45where a deadly fungal infection has turned most of society into zombie-like creatures.

07:50Joel is a brutal man, hardened by the loss of his daughter

07:53and 20 years of living in lawless chaos.

07:55Ellie, on the other hand, is a young girl born after the outbreak.

07:59She has no concept of what life was like before,

08:01so we get to see this new life through her eyes,

08:03experiencing what it would be like to be born into a world destroyed.

08:07Is it hard?

08:11Knowing they were people once?

08:13Given the success of shows like The Walking Dead and Station Eleven,

08:17the post-apocalyptic source material that The Last of Us provides

08:20already gives it mass appeal for viewers who may not have played the game.

08:23But what makes The Last of Us unique is its focus on Joel and Ellie,

08:27as opposed to a group of survivors.

08:28And at its core, that's what the game has always been about,

08:31the compelling nature of those two characters and their relationship.

08:35Grantland's Tom Bissell wrote, after playing the game for the first time in 2013,

08:38The Last of Us does a supremely fine job of bearing down into the minds of its desperate protagonists.

08:44Never have video game eyes seemed so rich with conflicted emotions.

08:48Thanks to Joel and Ellie's deeply fleshed-out character arcs in The Game,

08:52The Last of Us TV series has a pair of protagonists that viewers can't wait to keep watching.

08:58HBO's The Last of Us could be the first truly great video game adaptation,

09:02thanks to its ability to build off of the original instead of just being a carbon copy.

09:06The show, which truly feels like a love letter to its fans,

09:10seems to realize exactly what to change and what not to,

09:13to avoid compromising the original vision for the franchise.

09:16If the rest of the season plays out like Episode 1 did,

09:19The Last of Us will secure itself as the template

09:21for how to make great video game adaptations in the future.

09:25There's no halfway with this.

09:27We finish what we started.

09:28We finish.

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