The Last Of Us HBO Series consulted the game maker about newly infected
HBO series The Last of Us has consulted game maker studio Naughty Dog about a new infected character being developed for the upcoming show.
HBO's The Last of Us Movie went to Naughty Dog, the studio behind the game's franchise, to create a newly infected person for the series. HBO's The Last of Us Movie adapts the 2013 video game of the same name by Naughty Dog, focusing on the relationship between Joel Miller, played by The Mandalorian's Pedro Pascal, and young Ellie, played by Game of Throne's Lyanna Mormont, Bella Ramsey. Joel must take Ellie across the post-apocalyptic United States to a faction called the "Fireflies", where he discovers that the girl is immune to the virus that caused it all.
The New Yorker has revealed that the team behind HBO's The Last of Us series has turned to game maker studio Naughty Dog to help design a new casualty for the TV series. Clickers from HBO's The Last of Us series feel just right, largely because creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann show respect for the source material, as the duo consulted with Naughty Dog's concept artists to create an infected individual unlike the ones from the game. The creators agreed that the new variant had to be terrifying, to justify the deviation from the games. According to Mazin, the human aspects of the design chosen were his favorite part, as among them were "the clothes the host wears, the way her hair will darken after years underground".
How will The Last of Us movie on HBO be different from the game?
Despite being referred to as a series that sticks to its source material, HBO's The Last of Us will differ from the game in several ways that will provide the TV show with an opportunity to differentiate itself from what has come before. HBO's The Last Of Us features Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker, who brought Ellie and Joel to life in the original Naughty Dog game, respectively, although the duo will not return as lead characters in the series, with Ramsay and Pascal taking over, it has been revealed that they play roles throughout The first season of the series. The trailer for the show hints at Baker playing James, a member of David's group, and Johnson portraying Ellie's mother.
HBO's The Last of Us will also approach the game's story in a slightly different light, as the show has the potential to retrace its path through the apocalypse story. The Last of Us timeline fixes an issue from the game, by introducing viewers to the story in more chronological order. The show will adapt the first game and its downloadable content—The Last of Us: Left Behind, which focused on Ellie's relationship with best friend Riley three weeks before the events of the game. In doing so, the show's deviation from the source material would allow fans to experience both Joel and Ellie's backstories at the same time, rather than the game's approach to accessing Ellie's events in a later add-on.
An approach of respecting its source material while charting a new path forward is the best the series can take. The Last of Us changes needn't be huge choices that completely separate the show from the game, it should be the ability to add interesting details to the already existing characters and their stories that enrich the experience of the franchise as a whole. Druckmann, the game's creative director and co-creator of the series, echoed that sentiment at CCXP 2022, saying that the show will feature material he and his team at Naughty Dog "didn't get a chance to put into the game," which will provide a deeper "enrichment" of the characters. HBO's The Last Of Us will offer an interesting trailer about the game when it arrives on January 15th.
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