Why "The Last Of Us" Is So Good
On Jan 15th this year, the first episode of HBO’s The Last Of Us was released to critical acclaim. The series is a TV adaptation of a Playstation exclusive video game series that, as of Jan 2023, has sold over 37 million units. The success of the video games led to a great deal of anticipation for the series before its debut. Often, video game adaptations to the big screen don’t go so well. But with 4.7 Million viewers on its opening day, leading to it becoming HBO’s second highest series debut, as well as receiving critical acclaim among reviewers and audiences, it’s safe to say that it has been a success thus far. But the question here is what makes the series so good.
One of the hardest tasks when adapting a video game into a movie or series is living up to the expectations of fans and critics alike, whilst expanding the story to give viewers a fresh take on the source material. With the likes of DOOM (2006), Resident Evil (2022), Halo (2022) and more, the resulting product left audiences disappointed. The Last Of Us is one of the very few examples of adaptation done right. Whilst the producers stuck to the source material in order to remain faithful to the story of the games, they chose instead to expand on the world around the characters and the way in which that story was told, touching on environments and characters that the video game didn’t have the time or space to.
Whilst most of the source material was lifted without revision, there were some changes when adapting the story into the series. One notable change was the year in which the story is set. In the video game, the main story is set in 2033, occasionally making flashbacks to 2013, the year that the first game was released. In the series, however, the primary story arc is set in 2023, our current year, whilst the flashbacks take place in 2003. Whilst this change is quite big, it was handled with grace and care, not impeding on the story in a negative way, whilst subtly changing the lore to be time-appropriate. Another change is the way in which the virus works, and how it is transmitted. But again, this is handled with care and it works very well in translation.
When looking back at The Last Of Us video games, it’s easy to see why the transition to a series worked so well. The video game is quite a cinematic experience within itself. Choosing to follow a linear path rather than an open world, utilizing big cutscenes and characters that the player can really relate to, it’s clear that it just made sense to adapt a great story such as this one into a series. Furthermore, Neil Druckmann, the game director for the video game series oversaw the creation of the show, which contributed heavily to the series capturing the same feel as the video games did. With that being said, we’re incredibly excited to see where the series goes from here!
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