The Last of Us HBO series launches later this month, and the hype train is charging full steam head, with the show and its creators receiving a large profile in The Hollywood Reporter. The article is full of interesting tidbits – Sam Raimi almost made a TLOU movie, Maisie Williams and Kaitlyn Dever were considered as Ellie – but perhaps the most interesting info involves how the series will relate to the games the future of the franchise overall.
There’s been some speculation about how The Last of US HBO series will adapt the games. Will the show stick strictly to the plot of the games or will it eventually forge off and tell its own stories? According to The Hollywood Reporter article, the first season will cover the entirety of the first game. After that, it’s hinted, but not entirely confirmed, that season 2 will jump immediately to adapting The Last of Us Part II. In other words, while this is being called a series, it’s not in the traditional sense, as Druckmann’s goal is to adapt the games in a movie-like way. But hey, as Druckmann notes, that means they won’t end up with a Game-of-Thrones-style conundrum where the TV writers end up getting ahead of themselves and don’t know how to end things.
“We have no plans to tell any stories beyond adapting the games. We won’t run into the same issue as Game of Thrones since Part II doesn’t end on a cliffhanger.”
Hmmm, but could there be more material coming in the form of a new game? We heard rumors The Last of Us Part 3 may be Druckmann’s next thing, but then he seemed to poo-poo the rumors. Well, while Druckmann won’t confirm anything, he does say he thinks “there’s more story to tell.” Perhaps he’s using that new writer’s room he’s assembled for his next game project to come up with those stories.
In other The Last of Us news, Naughty Dog has announced the franchise has surpassed 37 million copies sold and released a new piece of concept art for their upcoming TLOU multiplayer project.
The Last of Us HBO Series debuts on January 15. Will you be tuning in? And where do you think the truth lies when it comes to TLOU3?
