With a gritty first-look trailer released, HBO's adaptation of The Last of Us starring Pedro Pascal is almost here. The video game is beloved, but does the story look all too familiar to those viewers who aren't gamers? The Last of Us may be too late to truly capitalize on the Zombie trend in TV and movies.
In the late 1960s, director George A. Romero revitalized the zombie concept with The Night of the Living Dead. The flesh-consuming undead monsters Romero first envisioned now fall in and out of pop culture favor every decade, give or take a few years. While The Last of Us may be the Citizen Kane of gaming to some, as a TV show it may not have what it takes to stand out in the genre. With The Walking Dead ending with Season 11 and Zack Snyder's big-budget zombie film for Netflix, it feels like a period of decline for these literally walking consumerism allegories. And it's not just the popularity of zombies that could make 2023 the wrong time for this particular story. There is a crucial plot point at the end that rings differently after the COVID-19 pandemic. It can still work, but Pascal and company have a lot more work to do in order to get audiences to feel satisfied.
Though 2023 may be a bit late to catch the high point of the zombie wave, the Naughty Dog game debuted on consoles at the perfect time in 2013. The Walking Dead was in its fourth season and reaching millions of viewers. There were dozens of zombie films, chief among them World War Z and the Evil Dead remake. What gamers playing The Last of Us got was a story that not only stood out in the gaming world but in the then-oversaturated genre. The character-driven story focused on 'the moment' in the way only video games can pull off. TV shows and movies often demand a bigger-picture narrative that games don't always need.
The characters had depth and charm, and players spent dozens or sometimes hundreds of hours with them. One character made arguably a morally wrong choice at the end at the end of the game. Rather than being unsatisfying, players understood and were actively trying to help them succeed. Yet while The Last of Us was a revelation in narrative gaming, it's less so in the age of prestige television. A reluctant father figure taking a special kid on a quest? From Logan to The Mandalorian, the Lone Wolf & Cub remix is ever-present. A story set in a dystopian future where a traveler has to negotiate different tribal factions? HBO Max subscribers can ease the wait for The Last of Us by watching DMZ, a DC Comics adaptation without superheroes. The Last of Us is now swimming in a bigger narrative pond.
The storytellers are in a rough spot, because they must adapt this beloved game for more traditional consumption. They can't simply adapt it all. But if they change too much, they are the reason "the TV show ruined the game." Whether or not this series works will be less about the story or even the zombies -- it will be about the cast. Their performances are what will make or break this show for viewers who love the game and those who don't know there is one. If Pascal and his co-stars can make viewers love these characters as much as the gamers who inhabited them, The Last of Us is on easy (albeit abandoned) street.
Hopefully, the producers of the HBO Max version understand what Naughty Dog understood at the height of the zombie craze: zombies have been in and out of pop culture for decades. What's truly important about any story are the characters it happens to. Luckily, The Last of Us has great characters to work with, whether or not zombies are still popular by the time it premieres.
The Last of Us is expected to debut on HBO and HBO Max in the first half of 2023.