A photo has surfaced from the production of HBO's The Last of Us series that reveals a first full look at star Pedro Pascal in costume as protagonist Joel Miller.Earlier this year, HBO began production on its adaptation of the critically-acclaimed PlayStation game The Last of Us. HBO has yet to officially reveal its series leads in costume, but a recent snapshot from the shoot managed to capture Pascal's complete onscreen look. The photo, originally taken by Twitter user Kristin Raworth, shows Pascal on set in Canada, masked up and wearing an outfit that bears a striking resemblance to Joel's attire from the 2013 game.
Fans received a first look at Pascal's Joel in September when the star shared a photo of himself alongside co-lead Bella Ramsey as Ellie. However, the official photo only offered a glimpse at the back of one of Joel's outfits, whereas the unofficial image from the set displays a full-body shot of Pascal's Joel in a jacket, button-up and jeans that looks like they could have been ripped out of the closet of his video game counterpart.
Prior to the first look at Pascal in costume, various other set photos have surfaced online from The Last of Us' production. In August, onlookers caught photos of the production team building the Boston quarantine zone, a game location the set design managed to mimic with incredible accuracy. More detailed photos of The Last of Us set emerged the following month.
Filming on The Last of Us began in July and is expected to continue through the summer of 2022. The series' first season will consist of 10 episodes, with an estimated budget of over $10 million per episode. The season was written by Chernobyl writer Craig Mazin alongside Neil Druckmann, who wrote and directed the game. In addition to Game of Thrones alumni Pascal and Ramsey, the cast includes Gabriel Luna (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) as Tommy, Joel's brother, Fringe's Anna Torv as Tess, Joel's smuggling partner, and Merle Dandridge, who is reprising her role as Marlene from the game.
Developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation 3, The Last of Us is a post-apocalyptic survival horror game set in a world ravaged by a plague that mutates humans into cannibalistic zombie-like creatures. Players spend the bulk of the game as Joel, a hardened survivor who must protect Ellie, a young girl immune to the infection who could be the key to finding a cure. The title is one of the best-reviewed and best-selling games of all time, and its success lead to Naughty Dog later developing The Last of Us Remastered and a direct sequel, 2020's The Last of Us Part II.
Source: Twitter