A video and several images for the upcoming The Last of Us TV series have surfaced online, giving us our best look at the characters and some familiar faces from the popular video game.
The first of which shows Joel (as played by Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) in their costumes, which looks to take direct inspiration from the 2013 game. Fans will recognise Joel's winter jacket and the winter outfit that Ellie sports. Most interestingly, we get our first look at Henry and Sam, two companions that appear for a vital couple of chapters.
While no official casting news has been made, fans have begun to speculate that Henry will be played by Lamar Johnson, best known for his appearances in All the Bright Places and X-Men: Dark Phoenix. The actor behind Sam could not be identified at this time.
New HBO's The Last of Us set photos in Calgary!Joel (Pedro Pascal), Ellie (Bella Ramsey), Henry (Uknown), Sam (Uknown) #TheLastofUs #HBO pic.twitter.com/9OObMY4JXkMarch 23, 2022
New video of Joel, Ellie, Henry and Sam on the set of #TheLastofUs!🎥 u/dbaxter1304 pic.twitter.com/XpwDzND0hzMarch 23, 2022
Based on the video game of the same name, The Last of Us takes place in a post-apocalyptic world and focuses on a smuggler named Joel who attempts to escort a 14-year-old girl called Ellie across the United States to safety. The series is being called the largest TV production ever in Canada and reportedly has a budget of over CA$10 million per episode (via CTV News (opens in new tab)) – even bigger than Game of Thrones.
Unlike the Uncharted movie with Tom Holland, original developer Naughty Dog is more involved with game director Neil Druckmann writing the series alongside Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin. With filming reportedly set to continue until June this year, we wouldn't expect a release date until 2023.
Taking this all into account, I personally have more hope that The Last of Us series will be more faithful. Pedro Pascal is also a fantastic actor, as proven by Narcos and The Mandalorian, while Bella Ramsey's breakout role in Game of Thrones as Lyanna Mormont proved she can handle difficult topics and proved she has a great presence on camera.
The Last of Us is one of the most acclaimed video games of all time, selling over 17 million copies. The Last of Us Part II followed in 2020 and again found similar success with over four million copies sold in its opening weekend alone.
