We know The Last of Us TV series has been filming, but not a lot else. In order to tantalise fans of the videogame adaptation, Pedro Pascal, who plays protagonist Joel in the sci-fi series, has talked about how horrifying it’s been to make.
“It is covered in clickers and spores, and the elements of Alberta, and we’re having an amazing time,” Pascal told Comicbook.com during the premiere of The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. “It’s totally harrowing. And I don’t know if we’ll make it, but it’ll be completely worth it. It is amazing. And I’m having an amazing time. I don’t know if I’ll make it.”
Fans of the horror games, developed by Naughty Dog, might think he’s referencing The Last of Us Part 2 in that last part. Pascal actually specifies that he’s talking events before they reach the plot of Part 2. “I do know what happens to him. I may not even make it to that,” he says. We already knew there were some rewrites involved in this version – could they extend to the fates of our heroes?
In The Last of Us, Joel’s a grizzled survivor who must accompany young Ellie through the zombie-torn United States. Their roadtrip is hazardous and full of peril, with the country completely besieged by the spores of the deadly toxin that turns people into mindless rage monsters.
Both of the survival games were smash hits for PlayStation, making them no-brainer candidates for an HBO adaptation. Craig Mazin, who created the show Chernobyl, developed The Last of Us for TV with Neill Druckmann, who directed the games. Druckmann’s involvement adds another fascinating wrinkle – could he give an alternate sequence of events, in order to create a broader separation between what the show and the games are doing?
Perhaps! For now, we’re still waiting for a premiere date for The Last of Us. In the meantime, Pascal stars alongisde the inimitable Nicolas Cage – who plays himself – in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, in theatres April 22, 2022.