The first trailer for The Last of Us HBO series has arrived, pitting Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey against the ravages of a zombie infested US. In the drama series, Pascal plays Joel, who has to accompany Ramsey’s Ellie across the country, protecting her from the undead.
Their journey, as you might imagine, is tumultuous to say the least. Every city brings its own challenges, and as you can see by the trailer, the elements and other survivors present more dangers too. A selection of different scenes are edited together from through-out the TV series, some look very tense indeed as Joel battles clickers – zombified people – as well as soldiers and scavengers in order to keep Ellie alive.
Some shots will stand out to fans of the original horror game, developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation 3. A couple of establishing shots replicate the scale and majesty of the videogame, particularly one featuring a stormy, overgrown city at night. Likewise, all the sneaking around being done is typical of what playing the nightmarish story is like.
Neill Druckman, who directed the game and its sequel, co-devleoped and co-wrote the sci-fi series with Craig Mazin, the main man behind Chernobyl. The latter is a strong selling point indeed, since Chernobyl is noted for how bleak and captivating it is.
No synopsis is given, just the phrase, “Save who you can save”. Tonally in line with the source material, to be sure. Gabriel Luna, Merla Dandridge, Nick Offerman, and Nico Parker are among the rest of the cast. We don’t know a huge amount else, other than HBO has spent a lot of money on the project, with reports stating it cost $10 million dollars Canadian per episode.
The Last of Us being one of the most popular game franchises ever, that’s probably a worthy investment. We don’t have a release date yet, but it’s coming in 2023. Check out the best zombie movies if you’d like more undead.