HBO has officially ordered a series based on The Last of Us video game franchise, HBO executive vice president of programming Francesca Ori announced Friday.Though a series based on The Last of Us had been in discussion for some time now, Friday’s announcement reconfirms HBO’s intent on the show and attaches a few key names to the project. Writing the series are The Last of Us creative director Neil Druckmann and Chernobyl writer Craig Mazin. Druckmann will also be executive producing the series alongside Cheryl Strauss (Chernobyl and Game of Thrones) as well as Naughty Dog president Evan Wells and PlayStation Productions Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan.
HBO is partnering with Sony Pictures Television on the series, with PlayStation Productions, Word Games, and Naughty Dog all co-producing.
“Craig and Neil are visionaries in a league of their own,” said Orsi. “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 evidently won’t be the only video game property that Sony hopes to convert into a TV production.
“We’re thrilled to be working with HBO and this fantastic creative team to bring ‘The Last of Us’ series to life,” said Jeff Frost, president of Sony Pictures Television Studios and Asad Qizilbash, head of PlayStation Productions. “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.”
According to HBO’s announcement, the series will focus on the events of the original The Last of Us game, which sees Joel and Ellie smuggling themselves out of an oppressive quarantine zone and traveling across a post-apocalyptic United States.
HBO says that the series will be available on both the HBO channel and to stream on HBO Max.
Last we heard, Mazin (a self-described Last of Us fan) assured fans in a BBC interview that he hopes to “expand” upon the series rather than “undo” any part of it, including Ellie’s sexual orientation.
Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/keyboard clicker for IGN.News Source
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