HBO Max’s first major series for 2023 has hit streaming with The Last of Us beginning what might be a banner year for the service.
Based on the hit video game of the same name, The Last of Us looks to cement the game in a different medium and emulate its successes in the gaming world. With a hefty budget and an all-star cast headlined by Pedro Pascal as Joel, things look positive for this to become HBO’s alternating hit in between seasons of House of the Dragon.
Given the TLOU franchise’s popularity with just two games so far and HBO’s success in turning Game of Thrones into a multi-show franchise, will this happen for The Last of Us?
Will we get any spinoffs?
The Last of Us currently has no plans for spinoffs from the initial first season. The creative team behind the adaptation, Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin, have spoken about their hopes of a second season. However. their intent, should a season two get the greenlight, is to have the next chapter cover the events of The Last of Us Part II. In fact, Mazin remarked he wasn’t sure if the game’s story would fit into just one season like the first game’s did.
There is a potential story they could adapt from the first game’s downloadable content pack—The Last of Us: Left Behind, which is entirely focused on Ellie’s point of view. Detailing what she was up to several weeks prior to the first game and during the winter chapters of The Last of Us, this could at the least make for a compelling special. Otherwise, TLOU seems as though it’ll mostly be a standalone series without any spinoffs for background or supporting characters. Left Behind could still feature in the nine episode run-time of the series, but it hasn’t been confirmed just yet.
The Last of Us is currently available to stream on HBO Max.
