The Last of Us is getting a television adaptation, and it’s giving us mixed feelings

HBO just announced it’s making a series based on Naughty Dog’s The Last Of Us video game. Is this something we really need? Something to look forward to?

Fans of The Last Of Us have plenty of things to look forward to this year. Not only is the much-anticipated sequel releasing this year, but it was announced on Thursday that HBO has picked up the beloved video game series as an upcoming television series.

And not only is it getting picked up as a TV series, but it’s being helmed by Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin and The Last Of Us writer and creative director Neil Druckmann. Both parties working on this feels almost like a dream team.

It’s an announcement that gives us plenty of mixed feelings, the first of which is some big-time hesitation. Why? Because media adaptations of video games have really been less than stellar overall, and the best of them is probably the latest Sonic movie that premiered last month.

Second, the other adaptation that Naughty Dog has been attempting to get off the ground is its Uncharted series — which, yes, supposedly starts filming in the very near future with Tom Holland as a young Nathan Drake. But the developmental hell this adaptation went through to get to this point is too much to cover in this article. And the best version of it may very well be the fan film Nathan Fillion cast himself in and posted to Youtube.

All of the negatives set aside, adapting The Last Of Us as a television series might actually benefit the source material. Cramming a 15-plus hour video game into a two-hour movie certainly isn’t easy. All of the world-building, backstory, and character introductions that need to be covered can become a very blatant, very boring info-dump that turns viewers off quickly.

But having a short series, even if it’s six or eight hours long, gives everything more time to breathe. Plus it’s fun to give our casting opinions. First and foremost, it would be wonderful if HBO can somehow tie in the voice leads, Troy Baker (Joel) and Ashley Johnson (Ellie). Johnson is very much too old to play Ellie, but having her in as, say, Tess, Joel’s long-time companion, would be a fun Easter Egg.

Fans have already been voicing their opinions. Hugh Jackman a la Logan looks so much like Joel. Others have voiced Gerard Butler as an option and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jamie Lannister from Game of Thrones).

Thoughts on who would play young Ellie? Fans have voiced Kaitlyn Dever from Booksmart, Sophia Lillis from the IT films, and Sadie Sink from the third season of Stranger Things.

Wherever this adaptation leads us, we’re sure to follow. No word yet on a release date, but The Last Of Us 2 currently releases on May 29