After months of developing a pilot for a potential small-screen adaptation of Naughty Dog’s acclaimed post-apocalyptic title, HBO has officially given a series order to The Last of Us from Emmy winner Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and Naughty Dog Vice President Neil Druckmann.
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“Craig and Neil are visionaries in a league of their own,” Francesca Orsi, Executive Vice President of HBO Programming, said in a statement. “With them at the helm alongside the incomparable Carolyn Strauss, this series is sure to resonate with both die-hard fans of The Last of Us games and newcomers to this genre-defining saga. We’re delighted to partner with Naughty Dog, Word Games, Sony and PlayStation to adapt this epic, powerfully immersive story.”
The Last of Us is an action-adventure survival horror video game that is played from a third-person perspective. It was developed by the Santa Monica-based video game developer Naughty Dog, who is also best known for creating the Uncharted games. It was first launched in 2013 for PlayStation 3 and in 2014 for PlayStation 4 where it immediately garnered critical acclaim for its narrative, gameplay, visuals, sound design, and characters.
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“We’re thrilled to be working with HBO and this fantastic creative team to bring ‘The Last of Us’ series to life,” Jeff Frost, President of Sony Pictures Television Studios and Asad Qizilbash, Head of PlayStation Productions, said in a joint statement. “PlayStation’s innovative storytelling and ingenuity is a natural complement to SPT’s creative focus. Our collaboration is a great example of our ‘One Sony’ philosophy at work. We look forward to developing even more iconic game IP in the future.”
The game follows hardened survivor Joel and Ellie, a young and capable girl, on their journey through a radically transformed world. Set twenty years after an infectious pandemic spread by the cordyceps virus ravaged the course of humanity, these two people, who were brought together by chance, must make life-altering decisions in order to survive.The Last of Us explores themes of survival, loyalty, love, and redemption in an emotionally charged expedition across the post-epidemic United States.
Due to its immense popularity, The Last of Us has sold over 17 million copies and had successfully won numerous awards including multiple Game of the Year awards. Nearly 7 years since its launch, the video game is currently being recognized as one of the greatest video games ever made.
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The Last of Us series adaptation will be tackling the events of the first game with the possibility of additional content based on the upcoming video game sequel. It will be co-written by Chernobyl creator Mazin and Druckmann, who is the game’s writer and creative director. Mazin will executive produce along with Carolyn Strauss, Naughty Dog president Evan Wells and PlayStation Productions’ Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan. The project is a co-production with Sony Pictures Television in association with PlayStation Productions.
