The Last of Us is the next big adaptation heading to HBO, and video game while fans know the story of Joel Miller (played by Pedro Pascal) and Ellie Williams (played by Bella Ramsey) well, it’s the first time that any of us got to see footage of the two in action in the TV series adaptation. Taking place in an apocalyptic world where a brain infection has turned people into “clickers” with an infectious bite (so, you know, like zombies), the show brings the beloved story to life in a way that the team behind it says is different from the game.
Now, in the lead up to last night’s premiere of Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon, HBO released a trailer with many of their upcoming shows, and we got a look at the fourth season of Succession and the second season of The White Lotus, as well as some new footage from Los Espookys and more. And it all led up to the music dropping out of the trailer with a title card that read, “And the premiere of the HBO original, coming next year The Last of Us.”
The footage did, instantly, bring tears to my eyes, as I think it will many fans of the game because there are moments directly from the game featured in the trailer—like Joel running with Sarah, confronting Ellie when she’s mad at him, and even a look at Nick Offerman as Bill. What this brief look did, though, was get me the right amount of excited for the series again, even knowing I still have a few months to go before I get to see it.
Joel and Ellie’s relationship in the teaser
“Everybody I ever cared for either died or left me,” Ellie says in voiceover, as we get glimpses of her relationship with Joel. We see him training her with a gun and the two exploring together as he is (presumably) taking her to the Fireflies. But we also get to see the rest of that scene where Ellie is yelling about the people in her life who have left her and the pain she feels, while Joel, who lost Sarah in his arms, responds, “You have no idea what loss is.”
It is a scene straight out of the game and is so smart to include in this brief look at the show because we can clearly see how good both Pascal and Ramsey are and how they’ll adapt the characters for live-action.
The importance of the scenes chosen for ‘The Last of Us’ first footage
One of the things about The Last of Us that really brings fans into the world of the game in an emotionally brutal way is its intro. We get to see Joel Miller as a happy father just living his life with his daughter, Sarah. We are with the two of them when the Cordyceps brain infection breaks out, and it is their frantic journey for safety that puts us right into the thick of it all. It’s also the first time we see Joel Miller being a hero but also losing everything he holds dear.
In the game, as they’re fleeing to safety, they find a group of people, which results in Sarah being shot and killed before Joel can get them out, and it informs how Joel takes on the world later in the game, when the player picks is in control. Including a scene from it in this teaser, mixed with Ellie’s line about people leaving her? Fantastic.
I cried the minute the music dropped out in the overall look. I cried when I saw Sarah, and I cried when Joel said, “You have no idea what loss is”—all of this just meaning that I am going to be a wreck when the show actually hits HBO in early 2023.
(featured image: HBO)
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