The Last of Us does somewhat depart from the game in a few instances, such the addition of additional characters not present in the original.
This looks interesting
Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann are the creators of the HBO post-apocalyptic drama television series The Last of Us. A smuggler named Joel (Pedro Pascal) is charged with escorting the adolescent Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across a post-apocalyptic United States in this television series, which is based on the 2013 video game created by Naughty Dog.
Gabriel Luna plays Tommy, the younger brother of Joel, Merle Dandridge portrays Marlene, the resistance’s commander, and Anna Torv plays Tess, Joel’s smuggler companion.
In HBO’s The Last of Us, the fungus is not spread via bites but rather through touch with one of the tendrils in an effort by the showrunners to root the adaptation in reality.
A genuine fungus called Cordyceps invades insects’ bodies to feed and breed, leading the host to look for a humid microenvironment that fosters ideal fungal conditions.
The game never explicitly explains how the sickness was able to spread across species and cause an apocalypse, but merging the plots of the game with the program yields a clearer understanding.
Alberta served as the location for The Last of Us, which was reportedly the biggest television production in Canadian history, from July 2021 to June 2022. Produced jointly by Sony Pictures Television, PlayStation Productions, Naughty Dog, the Mighty Mint, and Word Games, it is the first HBO show based on a video game.
The first season has nine episodes that were co-written by Mazin and Druckmann, who also authored and co-directed the original game. David Fleming and Gustavo Santaolalla, who also wrote the game’s music, created the score.
Watch the Full Trailer here:
Their take on the pandemic
A scientist is interviewed at the beginning of the program who posits a theory on how a strain of the Cordyceps fungus may change, even if we do get a sense of how the illness spread so destructively.
When you are Sarah in The Last of Us, you can find a copy of the Texas Herald, the neighborhood paper, with a top page article on the epidemic.
The headline says, “Admittance increases at region hospitals! 300% increase attributed to unexplained sickness,” and the body of the article speculates that the infection may have originated in South America and spread there via imported crops.
Following that, it only takes a few months for 60% of people to die or contract this new lethal Cordyceps strain, with patients turning violent in an effort to transmit the illness at any cost to the host.
The program goes back in time to 2003, therefore even though the game’s opening scenes take place in 2013, the time jump places Joel and Ellie’s first meeting in 2023.
Interestingly, stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey took their time getting to know one another. The first time they met was during preproduction, and Ramsey described it as “very quick and meaningful.”
We bonded, yet we were wary of one another due to the importance of our connection. We became acquainted with one another as Joel and Ellie did.