The Last of Us Day (also known as Outbreak Day) kicked off over the weekend. Like celebrations from previous years, fans of the acclaimed Naughty Dog franchise were anticipating exciting new announcements. Consequently, The Last of Us creative director/writer Neil Druckmann took to Twitter to talk about the upcoming HBO adaptation of the game(s). And, in doing so, he’s given us our first on-set look at the TV show.
When I first saw them on set in full costume, I was like: “Hooooooly shit! It’s Joel & Ellie! 😭!”
The @HBO adaptation of @Naughty_Dog‘s The Last of Us is full steam ahead!
Can’t wait to show you more (from all of our projects!) Happy #TLoUDay!!! pic.twitter.com/trq9N340FW
— Dr. Uckmann (@Neil_Druckmann) September 27, 2021
Druckmann’s tweet reads as follows: “When I first saw them on set in full costume, I was like: ‘Hooooooly sh*t! It’s Joel and Ellie!’ The HBO adaptation of Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us is full steam ahead! Can’t wait to show you more (from all of our projects!)!”
The teaser image shows Joel and Ellie looking out at the remains of a crashed plane in an open field. Joel dons his classic button-up while Ellie trades her in-game t-shirt for a red hoodie. Wait awaits them beyond their vantage point of relative safety remains to be seen, but it’s safe to assume that the plane will be crawling with infected. God of War: Ragnarok writer Alanah Pearce perfectly voiced the buzz surrounding the pic in the tweet’s replies, “I have never been so hyped to see the backs of two people before in my life.”
In an interview earlier this year, Druckmann explained that the HBO team is more interested in staying true to the core of the game series as opposed to focusing on minor details like character apparel:
“We talked at length that season 1 of The Last of Us series is going to be the first game,” Druckmann stated. “As far as the superficial things, like should a character wear the same plaid shirt or the same red shirt? They might or might not appear in it; that’s way less important to us than getting the core of who these people are and the core of their journey. Things sometimes stay pretty close. It’s funny to see my dialogue there from the games in HBO scripts. And sometimes they deviate greatly to much better effect because we are dealing with a different medium.”
HBO’s The Last of Us is bolstered by a star-studded cast and crew, including Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian), Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones), Anna Torv (Mindhunter), Nico Parker (Dumbo), Merle Dandridge (The Last Of Us video games), and Gabriel Luna (Terminator: Dark Fate). Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and Neil Druckmann are helming the show.
Are you excited to finally see Joel and Ellie’s real-life counterparts?
