HBO drops an exciting new trailer for the upcoming live-action adaptation of Naughty Dog’s hugely successful video game, The Last of Us. The trailer teases Joel and Ellie’s journey through the wastelands of civilizations of old, through hordes of the zombified infected.
Alongside glimpses at one of the U.S’ quarantine zones, the trailer showcases the show’s brooding Joel, before flashing glimpses at his journey with Ellie, hiding, driving and confronting harsh conditions. It’s brief, but enough for viewers to see every discomforting detail of the infected creature’s live-action depiction.
While this is the first trailer release for the series, it is not the first look audiences have had at the show’s main characters. HBO Max released a reel of titles to come earlier this year, featuring a brief look at The Last of Us, alongside shows such as His Dark Materials and Doom Patrol.
Written by Neil Druckmann, who directed the hugely successful video game, and Craig Mazin, HBO’s The Last of Us stars Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie.
The HBO series will also feature Gabriel Luna as Tommy, Jeffrey Pierce as Perry, Anna Torv as Tess and Merle Dandridge, who reprises her role as Marlene from the video games. Other cast members include Nico Parker, Murray Bartlett, Nick Offerman, Lamar Johnson and more. On top of that, voice actors Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, who played Joel and Ellie, respectively, in the video games, are also reportedly involved, though their roles are currently unknown.
Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us was originally released in 2013 and received widespread praise for everything ranging from the quality of its writing, the depth of its characters, its sound design and its representation of LGBTQ+ relationships. A sequel game, The Last of Us Part II, was released in 2020. A remake of the original game, titled The Last of Us Part I, was released on 2 September and offers graphical and AI enhancements to the video game’s experience.
The Last of Us will air on HBO in 2023.
