After months of near-silence, HBO's The Last of Us dropped its first trailer, teasing 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, bandits and, of course, clickers, one of which only flashes across the screen. 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 sizzle 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. In a previous interview, Ramsey assured the live-action adaptation would respect Naughty Dog's game. She said, "I think people are going to love [the adaptation]. I know there were people worried about it, of course... When something is so precious to you as a viewer — as a gamer — of course, you're going to be worried about the adaptation."
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.
The Game That Started It All
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 Sept. 2 and offers graphical and AI enhancements to the video game's experience.
The Last of Us will air on HBO in 2023.
Source: YouTube