Last week, it was revealed in a new report that Naughty Dog is working on remake of its PS3 hit, The Last of Us. The project was begun by Sony Corp.’s Visual Arts Service Group, a small group led by Michael Mumbauer. The Visual Arts Service Group wanted to expand and improve some of the most successful PlayStation franchises and began working on a remake of The Last of Us.
There is some conflict within the PlayStation community about Sony re-assigning the project to Naughty Dog, but that’s only part of it. The idea of a remake for The Last of Us, which was originally released in 2013 and remastered in 2014, doesn’t sit well with a lot of fans. The timing is also interesting because the release could end up coinciding with the upcoming HBO Adaptation.
Why The Last of Us Remake is Controversial
The Last of Us Remake for PS5 is already pretty controversial simply because the game isn’t that old. Final Fantasy 7 received a remake last year, but the original game came out way back in 1997. In contrast, The Last of Us still holds up well despite being a PS3 game. The graphics aren’t as impressive as The Last of Us 2, of course, but they still look fantastic and the gameplay certainly holds up.
Many fans feel like it’s too soon for a The Last of Us remake. A remake implies that the game is being completely redone as opposed to a remaster, which simply improves on what’s already there. There are certainly some benefits to remakes and The Last of Us would look even more incredible with a graphical upgrade, but it's similar to Disney remaking many of its animated classics into live-action films. Cinderella was due for a reimagining where Tangled probably isn't.
Remakes can get complicated as fans wonder whether plot points will be added or taken away, or whether the characters' appearances will be changed. Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker’s portrayals of Ellie and Joel are iconic, so surely whatever the remake entails, it won’t involve recasting and re-recording vocals. But while there’s this much unknown, it’s hard to know what Sony has planned for the remake.
How The Last of Us HBO Adaptation Could Increase Controversy
The Last of Us HBO show doesn’t have a release date yet, but it does have its star players. Bella Ramsey, best known for her role as Lady Lyanna Mormont in HBO’s Game of Thrones, has been cast as Ellie, while The Mandalorian’s Pedro Pascal will play Joel. As is always the case with popular adaptations, some fans were disappointed that their dream casts weren't chosen, but another fan created an incredible deep fake using Ramsey and Pascal’s likenesses in a scene from The Last of Us. Of course, they don’t look exactly like the original models, but they looked great as Ellie and Joel and helped a lot of fans envision the series better.
With The Last of Us Remake and The Last of Us HBO adaptation being in production at around the same time, it’s possible that they could overlap a bit. That’s where things have the potential to get even more controversial. It might not be necessary, but there’s probably not a lot of fans who would push back against Sony for releasing a version of The Last of Us with stellar graphics and haptic feedback support for the PS5. But if anything about the story or performances change, there is bound to be conflict.
On the other hand, The Last of Us on HBO is bound to bring in new fans to the franchise who may not have played or heard of the games before. It would be almost too perfect to have the show and the remake releasing at the same time so that the new fans can go straight to the updated version.
Assuming that’s the angle Sony is going for, it’s possible that some things in the remake might be changed to more closely mirror the show, which has promised to expand upon events in The Last of Us. There’s also a chance that Sony might choose to use Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal as new face models for Ellie and Joel.
While it would be cool for the new fans to experience the game with the same faces they met on the show, current fans might view the change as disrespecting the original characters they know and love. It’s one thing for a novel to have a version of cover art that advertises a major motion picture adaptation, but it’s completely different to change the faces of familiar characters in such a character-driven narrative.
The Last of Us Fans Have Reason to Be Concerned
It seems crazy to even suggest that Sony would remodel beloved characters, but it’s been done before. When Spider-Man was remastered for PS5, Insomniac Games revealed a whole new face model for Peter Parker.
Reactions to the new Peter were mixed, with some fans feeling that the new version didn’t look old enough and didn’t have enough emotion. On the extreme side, the developers were sent hateful messages and threats from Spider-Man fans. Other players didn’t mind so much. Ben Jordan, the new face model, slightly resembles MCU’s Spider-Man, Tom Holland. While not identical to Holland, the new Peter still looks moderately familiar to MCU fans.
Could the same thing happen to Joel and Ellie from The Last of Us? It’s possible, and it can be done without redoing motion capture performances or voice acting. Considering how many players reacted to Peter Parker's new face model, however, it's unlikely that the same treatment for Ellie and Joel would garner the fan support to justify the decision.
Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal Probably Won’t Be Face Models for the Remake
Even though this idea will cross everyone’s mind at one point, it’s extremely unlikely that it’ll actually happen. Even if the motivation was to draw new fans in by letting them play as the characters they met on TV, it wouldn’t work when transitioning into The Last of Us 2. The Last of Us 2 released in June 2020, so the thought of remaking it anytime soon doesn’t make any sense at all. To do the best by both the old fans and the new, Sony should stick to the original face models and stay true to the original game.
If Sony chooses to make Joel and Ellie look more like their on-screen counterparts, it would have to stick with the decision through the rest of the franchise like Insomniac is. Miles Morales is only the second Spider-Man game so the change wasn’t a huge deal, and to make things even easier, Peter Parker’s face isn’t visible most of the time. The Last of Us franchise is very different, and changing the characters’ looks in the remake would all but require changes be made to The Last of Us 2 and 3, if there is a third installment.
So, fans probably don’t have anything to worry about. Only time will tell what the remake entails, but a redesign for Ellie and Joel is highly unlikely to be part of it.
The Last of Us Remastered is available now for PS4.