While I would have been interested in an adaptation of The Last of Us in general, seeing that Craig Mazin is involved in the production raises my interest significantly. We learned back in March 2020 that Mazin is teaming with Neil Druckmann on adapting the Sony PS game franchise to a live-action series at HBO as a co-production with Sony Pictures Television and PlayStation Productions.
Now, HBO has given a series order to the project but has declined to reveal how many episodes the series/season is being commissioned for.
“Craig and Neil are visionaries in a league of their own,” said Francesca Orsi, EVP HBO Programming. “With them at the helm alongside the incomparable Carolyn Strauss, this series is sure to resonate with both die-hard fans of The Last of Us games and newcomers to this genre-defining saga. We’re delighted to partner with Naughty Dog, Word Games, Sony and PlayStation to adapt this epic, powerfully immersive story.”
Said Jeff Frost, President of Sony Pictures Television Studios, and Asad Qizilbash, Head of PlayStation Productions: “We’re thrilled to be working with HBO and this fantastic creative team to bring The Last of Us series to life,” PlayStation’s innovative storytelling and ingenuity is a natural complement to SPT’s creative focus. Our collaboration is a great example of our ‘One Sony’ philosophy at work. We look forward to developing even more iconic game IP in the future.”
The plan is for the series to cover the original game as conceived by Druckmann and some of the elements from the second game that may make sense. Mazin received a lot of critical acclaim for bringing out the five-episode Chernobyl series and it’s easy to imagine this as a smart paring for an end of the world storyline.
Plot Concept: The story takes place twenty years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse across the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.
