The Last of Usmanaged to carve out its space as one of the best video game adaptations ever put to the screen due to several factors.Pedro PascalandBella Ramseydeliver compelling, often heartbreaking performances as Joel and Ellie.The Last of Usco-creatorNeil Druckmannhas an active role in the series, serving as a co-showrunner and writing multiple episodes. And the series not only manages to replicate scenes from the game, butbuilds upon them in new ways. It’s hard to imagine this working in another medium, yet there was a time whenThe Last of Uswas slated to receive a movie adaptation. Eventually, it morphed into the TV series, but more info about what the movie was meant to be has come out over time, and it paints an intriguing picture.
‘The Last of Us’ Film Went Through Multiple Stages of Development
The film version ofThe Last of Uswas announced in 2014, one year after the game debuted to critical acclaim. Druckmann was upfront about the filmbeing a full adaptation of the game’s story,telling IGN: “It’s an adaptation of the story ofThe Last of Us…As far as where we go and how we make it fit into a film, how it takes into account the unique properties of film… We’re not sure yet. We’re only just scratching the surface.” To further sweeten the pot, none other thanSam Raimiwould be producing the film; Raimi’s credits on theEvil Deadfilms, along with hisSpider-Mantrilogy, made him a perfect fit to shepherd an adaptation ofThe Last of Us. Yet the development process slowed to a crawl until Druckmann finally said that hefelt a film wouldn’t be feasiblebecause he couldn’t imagine anyone other thanTroy BakerorAshley Johnsonportraying Joel and Ellie.
After the release ofThe Last of Ustelevision series,Jeffrey Pierce, the voice of Joel’s brother Tommy,recalled a table read he attended when the film version was still in progress. Yet he shared Druckmann’s feelings thatfilm wasn’t the right wayto adaptThe Last of Us:
“As good as it was, it was never gonna be a great movie. In a two-hour runtime, how are you gonna tell 14, 17 hours of story? Then I think that there was some conversation about it maybe being an animation motion-capture movie series at some point, and that seemed like a good idea, but we’ve been down that road.”
The Last of Uswould eventually make it to TV screens, thanks to the help ofCraig Mazin, but the road to getting there was a relatively rocky one.
Craig Mazin Would Help Rework ‘The Last of Us’ Into a TV Series
Though Mazin believed thatThe Last of Uswould be perfect for a TV adaptation, he didn’t think he would be the one to bring it to life. “Someone’s going to adapt this [for TV or film], and it’s going to be awesome, but it won’t be me,“he told The Washington PostfollowingThe Last of UsSeason 1. Yet after a meeting with Druckmann, Mazin found himself pitchingThe Last of Usto HBO, which eventually got a series order. Even then, the show faced flak from dedicated fans, especially when Ramsey and Pascal revealed in separate interviews that they weretold not to play the games.But the results speak for themselves: not only did Ramsey and Pascal manage to bring their own unique touches to Joel and Ellie, but Mazin was also able to keep the core of the game intact and still deliver a compelling story that fans of the games and newcomers would enjoy. It looks likeSeason 2 will continue that approach.
Kaitlyn Dever and Another ‘Game of Thrones’ Alum Auditioned for Ellie in ‘The Last of Us’
It might be hard to imagine anyone other than Bella Ramsey in the role of Ellie, yet they weren’t the first choice whenThe Last of Usmovie was being developed. Druckmann and RaimiapproachedMaisie Williamsin 2014; Williams was best known for her role as Arya Stark inGame of Thrones, which also featured Ramsey’s breakout role. Another potential candidate for Ellie wasKaitlyn Dever,who did a table readback when the film version was still in production. Dever’s involvement withThe Last of Ushas come full circle, as she’ll be playing Abby in Season 2, and she recently discussed her history with both the film and television versions ofThe Last of Usat theSeason 2 premiere event: “I had those few months where I was talking to Neil about potentially playing Ellie, but then, as moviemaking goes, that went away for a while.” WhileThe Last of Usnever made it to the big screen, its television version is more than a worthy adaptation.
The Last of UsSeason 1 is available to stream on Max. Season 2 premieres April 13.
The Last Of Us
After a global pandemic destroys civilization, a hardened survivor takes charge of a 14-year-old girl who may be humanity’s last hope.
