The Last of Us fans are being given an opportunity to revisit the events of the original game again. With Naughty Dog's action-adventure video game receiving a television series treatment, fans have been curious to see its characters brought to live-action. Casting announcements for The Last of Us' HBO series are being revealed at a gradual pace as development continues. Many The Last of Us fans have stated their opinions on the announced casting choices with a mixture of concern and excitement.
Fans may have already received their first look at a few characters from the series. An image from The Last of Us' production revealed a first look at Joel, Tommy, and Sarah in a vehicle. Fans of the original The Last of Us will instantly recognize this imagery from the beginning sequence of the game, where the family first encounters the cordyceps outbreak and attempts to flee. If the series is to capture what made the game so special for players, fans may anticipate iconic scenes like that being featured at some point. Until then, a fan has created custom character posters for the HBO series' starring roles.
IconicNephilim has shared their interpretation of the HBO series' actors as their video game counterparts. Instead of reimagining the characters to fit how they may appear in live-action, IconicNephilim has simply adapted the actors to the appearances that Joel and Ellie have in The Last of Us. Pedro Pascal's Joel is seen wearing the character's green plaid shirt. Similarly, Bella Ramsay's Ellie is seen wearing the character's T-shirt and long-sleeve combination. Both characters are also shown wearing backpacks, which function as the player's inventory storage in-game.
The Last of Us is cinematic and character-driven by portraying emotion through motion-capture and voicework throughout the game, and as a result it is not difficult to imagine how the game's most influential sequences may play out in the HBO series. For example, having backpacks included on each character poster may seem like a minor detail but individual melee instruments and larger firearms do not simply de-spawn or vanish when the player does not have it equipped. Rather, items are stored inside the backpack or attached to the character otherwise to sustain the player's immersion.
IconicNephilim states that they also plan to produce custom character posters for other The Last of Us characters as they are announced. Pascal and Ramsay maintain physical appearances that are already similar to their video game counterparts, meaning that they could be superimposed as Joel and Ellie with little effort. Following Joel and Ellie, they plan to make character posters for Tommy and Tess. Tommy in particular has a much different appearance than the actor who will be portraying him, Gabriel Luna, so it will be interesting to see how IconicNephilim illustrates the actor.
The Last of Us is available now on PS3 and PS4.