We are at the halfway point of HBO’s adaptation of Naughty Dog’s, The Last of Us, which has quickly become one of the world’s biggest shows. First met with skepticism surrounding some of the changes made from game to show like time period changes, differences in the virus, and casting choices, a lot of people were expecting something lackluster compared to their beloved game. Now we’re five episodes in and can take a step back, look at all the changes and see that they were for the benefit of the story.
Video game adaptations are notorious for being horrible, with a couple exceptions to that rule (thank you Arcane), people were nervous going into this HBO adaptation. The game is and has been beloved since its original release in 2013 and fans are very protective of it.
Today we will be delving into all the changes that were made from the video game to the HBO adaptation that are show runners and writers, Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann’s (in my opinion, successful) attempt at appealing to two audiences: those who have played the game and those who are brand new to the world.
*There will be spoilers for the first five episodes, come back once you’ve caught up!*