Unfortunately, gaming fans eager to see how the adaptation of hugely popular videogame The Last of Us turns out are going to have to wait until 2023. The epic year-long shoot is not scheduled to finish until June of this year, so it was never looking likely that the show would be ready in 2022.
The TV series, which reportedly has an eight-figure budget per episode, is the largest-scale production in Canadian history. The show premiering in 2023 also ties in with the timeline of the series, which has been altered to a decade earlier than the games. In the show, the virus outbreak takes place in 2003 and the main events of the story (Joel meeting Ellie) take place in 2023.
The chief content officer of HBO Max, Casey Bloys, has told Deadline that; “It’s not going to air in 2022, they are still shooting in Canada. I imagine you will see it in 23. “I have seen some early episodes and I’m very excited. Craig (Mazin) did Chernobyl for us, he is a fantastic writer and director. What I’ve seen looks amazing so I’m excited for it – but it will not be in 22.”
Based on Naughty Dog’s award-winning videogame, The Last of Us takes place 20 years after modern civilisation has been destroyed by a deadly virus. Joel (Pedro Pascal), a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie (Bella Ramsey), a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone to the Fireflies, a cure-searching organisation. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse across the US and depend on each other for survival.
Other members of the cast include Gabriel Luna playing Joel’s brother Tommy, Nico Parker as his daughter Sarah and Anna Torv as Joel’s smuggling partner Tess. Murray Bartlett and Nick Offerman play fan-favourite characters Frank and Bill.
After making such a huge investment of both time and money, HBO will surely want The Last of Us to be a long-running series in the vein of The Walking Dead. While we wait for more updates, check out our guide to the best zombie movies.