Latest ‘Last of Us’ News: Fans prepare themselves for a movie-length debut episode and celebrate the movie that never was

The impending debut of HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation has fans of the video game franchise in turmoil as they war between excitement and dread.

Should the show deliver a story on par with the one included in video games, the series could be 2023’s best. If it fails to faithfully adapt the source material, however, it could be one of the year’s biggest letdowns. Fans are keeping their expectations as low as possible — a challenging task — in the lead-up to the show’s debut in hopes of avoiding another Resident Evil or Assassin’s Creed-level disappointment.

The showrunner behind the upcoming series is well aware of the massive expectations riding on the adaptation, but he’s not buckling under the pressure. His dedication to bringing “the greatest story that has ever been told in video games” to life is certainly encouraging, but it’s not enough to comfort the game’s many fans.

Every fresh detail about the HBO adaptation does paint a promising picture — despite a painful history of failed video game adaptations — and recent news about a former attempt at the Last of Us story is only heartening fans more. A movie version of the video game almost came to pass back in the mid-2010s, and fans couldn’t be more grateful that we’re getting HBO’s version instead.

Fans balk at the Last of Us movie that almost was

HBO’s take on the Last of Us story isn’t the first attempt at the popular franchise. The game was almost adapted into a feature-length film back in the 2010s, with Sam Raimi at the helm. The film version of the story reportedly aimed to take inspiration from World War Z and deliver a “bigger and sexier” version of the already-stellar story. The truly atrocious idea is reminding fans to be grateful for HBO’s true-to-form take on the beloved games.

The first episode of The Last of Us promises to be a long one

Fans are counting down the days until HBO’s The Last of Us officially airs. It’s set to debut its first episode in just a few weeks on Jan. 15, and its first episode already promises a particularly robust story. The first episode is slated to contain a full hour and a half of content, leaving viewers with plenty to look forward to. Fans of the video games behind the upcoming story are already deep into theories about how the show will progress and where its first few episodes will take the story, so news of a longer-than-usual debut episode is entirely welcome.

Showrunner Craig Mazin promises to put people at the core of TLOU story

The showrunner behind HBO’s TLOU adaptation is a big fan of the source material, which can only mean good things for the upcoming adaptation. After celebrating the original as “the greatest story that has ever been told in video games,” Craig Mazin promised to keep people at the core of the adaptation. He noted that, in the games, the fact that Joel and Ellie are “just people” is part of what really keeps the story grounded, and he intends to stay true to that same vision.