Featured Image Credit: HBO
Topics: Film and TV, HBO, Gaming
Gregory Robinson
The highly anticipated TV series has debuted with a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score.
Adapting video games as TV shows and films has proven to be notoriously difficult to get right - we're looking at you, Resident Evil - but this new drama, which follows a man and a teenage girl travelling through the U.S. during a zombie apocalypse, has won over critics.
The stakes are incredibly high because The Last of Us is one of the most beloved video games released in the last decade.
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Developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony in 2013, The Last of Us has spawned a media franchise.
Like the video game, the series will see Joel (Pedro Pascal), a skilled survivor, travel through the US as it is ravaged by a deadly disease.
On his way, he meets a young girl, Ellie (Bella Ramsey), who attempts to help him find a cure.
And for the series, which was created by Neil Druckmann and Craig Main, the consensus among critics has been outstanding so far.
The BBC named the nine-episode series ‘the best video game adaptation ever made’.
The review adds: “For fans of the game, it is an adaptation of the utmost skill and reverence, yet one still capable of surprise; for people who have never picked up a controller, it is an encapsulation of the game's heart and soul – its full-blooded characters, its neat plotting, its mature themes of love and loss.”
Meanwhile, The Independent said the series 'is undoubtedly a new landmark in the seemingly impossible task of adapting video games'.
Despite some criticism regarding its pacing, IGN remarked the series is ‘often a sight to behold’ and ‘particularly excels’ in its audio.
When the trailer for the series dropped in September, many fans were beyond excited, however, there were some who were still on the fence.
Mainly, fears about whether the series would lose some of the magical atmosphere that the game conjures so wonderfully were expressed.
"The trailer for The Last of Us HBO series didn’t do it for me at all," one person tweeted at the time. "I genuinely don’t think it looks very good based on the trailer. I think it will be impossible for a tv production to achieve the mood and atmosphere of the games. We’ll see."
But judging by the reactions to the series so far, fans should have nothing to worry about.
The Last of Us is coming exclusively to HBO on 15 January. UK fans can watch via Sky Atlantic and streaming service NOW from 16 January.