It’s almost time for the live-action adaptation of post-apocalyptic thriller The Last of Us – streaming on Neon from Jan 16. With his excitement building ever since the series was announced, reinforced as more news and trailers surfaced, Daniel Rutledge can’t wait for the week-to-week experience to begin.
“When you’re lost in the darkness, look for the light.”
That’s the tagline of the most exciting TV show of 2023. It’s also the slogan of the Fireflies, the revolutionary militia group fighting for a better world in the universe of The Last of Us. But the line is also a major theme in the games that is clearly being carried over into the TV show.
It’s a supremely dark franchise set in a bleak post-apocalyptic world filled with monstrous thugs and actual monsters ready to rip apart man, woman and child for survival—or just for kicks. The main characters are constantly battling literal darkness, too, as they forage for supplies and safe passage in a world without electricity.
But they’re also battling the darkness within, the darkness that grows as they become hardened by what they have to do to get by in such a cruel world. This is a story about the human condition and how we must look for the light, no matter how awful and enveloping the darkness is we find ourselves lost in.
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In 2021 I wrote an impassioned piece for Flicks about why, against all odds, I was allowing myself to get excited about this TV show and encouraging others to do the same. All the evidence I laid out there remains true and the series is now tantalisingly close to being onscreen in our living rooms.
The Last of Us premieres in Aotearoa on January 16 via Neon. We’ve now had loads of promotional materials released that further hammer home how this thing truly does have the potential to be as good as the games and, therefore, one of the greatest TV shows of our time. Creators Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin seem blessed with the combination of a thorough understanding of what made fans so passionate about the games, how to translate that to the television format, and free reign from HBO to let them do it.
A crucial aspect— arguably the most crucial aspect—is the character of Ellie. The Last of Us is the story of Joel and Ellie, but Joel wasn’t a real concern. He’s an archetype we’ve enjoyed different versions of many times before. He’s complex and nuanced and in many ways unique, for sure, but I think the fanbase was fairly comfortable that the TV show would get him right, especially with Pedro Pascal in the role.
Ellie feels trickier and there were mixed reactions to Bella Ramsey’s casting initially. For a lot of fans, Ellie is a sacred character for whom they have enormous affection, which is a kind of protective affection, too.
Well, on The Last of Us subreddit, when that first full trailer dropped, the reaction was… like this:
“That clip was all I needed. She IS Ellie. I didn’t think I could get even more excited!” – OwenGoal360
“Teared up a bit – she’s perfect, I can’t believe it.” – deathmouse
“Yep that clip sold her for me as Ellie, can’t wait to see the whole show now.” – Arockthatalsorolls
“Same! I was one of many who were a little thrown off by the lack of resemblance, but she embodies her so perfectly. I’m sold.” – donutella
“I am totally buying her Ellie. She is going to nail it.” – _leHamster
Ellie isn’t the only thing in the trailer that got fans all emotional. It also used A-ha’s classic Take On Me for surprising emotional effect, after an acoustic rendition of it drove a highly touching scene in The Last of Us Part II.
“Take On Me in the background had me a little emotional not gonna lie” – Any-Honeydew8740.
“Bro something flew in my eye as soon as I heard that” – xZOMBIETAGx
“Take On Me!!!!!! I’M CRYING!!!!” – Hobbitt_Chick
Keep in mind this is the subreddit for fans of the games—it’s separate to the HBO one, or the TV show’s own subreddit, which both reacted strongly to the trailer too. This sort of unbridled excitement is fairly rare from gamers chatting about an adaptation of their most beloved game.
To be fair, almost every game adaptation ever is shit, but still game fandom can be extremely cynical and often excessively harsh. And not every response in the Reddit thread about the trailer is positive, but you have to hunt pretty hard to find the grumpy ones. It’s overwhelmingly stuff like this:
“I love this so much. I cannot put it into words.” – d4vros
“One of the rare cases the more I see, the less cynical I feel.” – lo_REZ90
“I don’t know why this trailer made me so emotional. The same thing with the teaser. The showrunners, the cast, the composer all incredible. This is a dream come true.” – EfoDom
Those reactions from fans of the game this close to premiere date are just the latest positive signs that it’s all come together impossibly well. HBO has clearly invested heavily in this thing, giving it number one flagship position in this amazing sizzle reel of the company’s upcoming shows released in August, which also included the likes of House of the Dragon, Succession, The White Lotus, Barry, Industry, The Idol, Love and Death, White House Plumbers and Our Flag Means Death.
Nothing has refuted previous reports that the show’s budget “well exceeds” US$10 million per episode, making it one of the most expensive ever made. Pascal alone is reportedly netting US$600,000 per episode, so a cool US$6M for the first season.
The cast and crew keep saying particularly cool shit that keeps ramping excitement up. Actor Jeffrey Pierce said in a podcast that the series has: “I think the best scripts I’ve ever seen in terms of level of details, the level of texture, the capturing of the essence of Joel and Ellie.”
Murray Bartlett told Collider: “The scripts that I had to work with, one particular script is one of the best hours of television I’ve ever read. It’s beautiful. It’s beautifully written… I’m really proud of the work we did and I think it could be really, really wonderful. It will be really wonderful.”
That full trailer debuted at Brazil’s CCXP event, where some of the key cast and crew got together for a panel during which they said more of the exact sort of thing fans wanted to hear.
“My job was to make sure—with Neil—that we were able to make a television show that is just as compelling and beautiful as the game,” said Mazin. “It’s different because we don’t do gameplay, we watch it on television, but I promise everyone here: Everything that made you feel and love and cry, it’s all here. We promise. There will be surprises along the way. If you’ve played the game, I promise you, there are things that you don’t know that are coming that will blow your mind.”
Druckmann added that some of the extra content was originally written for the first game, but was not able to be included, adding that a select few people who have saw the series early say that replaying the game is a richer experience after having seen it. He’s made similar statements before, including telling IGN: “Some of my favourite episodes so far have deviated greatly from the story.”
It’s so nice to have this level of excitement for something that seems more and more like everyone got everything right with it. I can’t wait for the week-to-week experience it’s going to bring, with the podcasts and online reviews and subreddit responses to each episode to digest in between each episode. For me it’s such a strong force of light. Real life can be tough and it sure feels that way at the moment, so you really have to focus on the nice things. There’s a lot of darkness out there and it’s easy to get lost in it.
When you’re lost in the darkness, look for the light.
