Following the smash success of HBO's adaptation of The Last of Us, the developers have posted a blog update detailing how its original plans for the game's opening would've been less impactful than what made it into the game.

On NaughtyDog's official website, a recent blog post reveals that the idea to have the player take the reins as Joel's daughter Sarah came much later in development. "The beginning of the game was one of the last things we got finalized when we were making [the game,]" revealed Naughty Dog's president and co-director of The Last of Us, Neil Druckmann. "For a long time, the plan was to play as Joel, not to play as Sarah, and you as Joel would hear commotion over at your neighbor's house, you would walk over there, you'd see they're infected. Then you'd head back and grab your daughter," he said.

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Making The Last of Us' Opening Scene

However, the developers found this intro felt a little bit played out and wanted to differentiate its production from others in the genre. During a brainstorming session, the idea to put the player in Sarah's shoes came up, and from there, Drumann said, "everything fell into place. The fact that you're seeing it through a very innocent child made everything creepier, scarier, and that became the north star."

The rest of the blog post covers what went into designing its iconic opening to the game, from a deeper look at the sound design choices, lighting and writing of the script. Also included in the article are some BTS anecdotes from the showrunner of the HBO adaptation, Craig Mazin, about how Naughty Dog chose to flesh out Sarah and Joel's relationship and what changes it decided to make while reshooting the pilot.

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HBO's The Last of Us Adaptation

HBO's The Last of Us received praise for how faithful its opening was to Naughty Dog's while also expanding and improving on parts. Multiple critics hailed it the best video game adaptation of all time. Druckmann is not only the co-director of the original Last of Us game and president of the studio but also helms the production of the show alongside Mazin.

Naughty Dog's The Last of Us is available on PS4 and PS5, and will be available on PC in March 2023. HBO's The Last of Us is available for streaming on HBO Max and airs on Sunday nights.

Source: Naughty Dog