HBO’s TV adaptation of The last of us premieres on Sunday, January 15, after years of failed attempts to turn the 2013 game into a movie (although the truly disastrous movie version of Naughty Dog’s Not charted makes us a little happy for that failure). As a resident of Ars The last of us expert, Senior Gaming Editor Kyle Orland enlisted franchise neophyte (and TV recap expert) Andrew Cunningham to help talk about the good, bad, and disgusting releases of the series’ weekly episodes.
While video game adaptations in linear media have a bit of a hit-and-miss history at the moment, the prestige TV treatment of this post-apocalyptic thriller is getting a lot of early buzz. That’s probably due in no small part to the involvement of the game’s creative director, Neil Druckmann, who serves as executive producer and director of the TV series.
This adaptation can also take advantage of the tight narrative already established in The The last of us spell. Carefully crafted cutscenes and awkward conversational moments during gameplay make those games feel a bit like fast-paced prestige TV shows anyway – just one occasionally punctuated by interactive firefights.
Will HBO’s version of The last of us capture what makes the games so special? Will the show appeal to someone who has never touched the games? Will the TV writers make shocking changes to the characters PlayStation fans have come to love over the past decade? Will Kyle and Andrew be able to face dozens of creepy, mold-infected threats each week?
There’s only one way to find out. Our spoiler-packed episode summaries appear Monday morning after each episode premieres on HBO on Sunday night, so be sure to check in after you’ve watched each week.
