The Last of Us TV series

Here's what the critics think about HBO's video game adaptation.

"Comfortably the best adaptation of a video-game ever made: one that deepens the game's dystopian lore, while staying true to its emotional core. "HBO's The Last of Us is a breathtaking adaptation of one of the most impactful stories told in video games and brilliantly brings Joel and Ellie's journey to a whole new audience. Taking the essence of what made the original tale so enduring, it builds out the world of the game while also switching up some aspects to almost entirely stunning effect." "It stands proudly as one of the best video game adaptations ever, and a clear signal that PlayStation is right to pursue a future where its already reputable video games are reborn on TV. The show is brought to life by a cast and crew that seems hellbent on living up to its name and their own already-glowing reputations." What do critics think of the video game adaptation?

One of the most cinematic games of all time is Sony and Naughty Dog's "The Last of Us," which launched in 2013 and became an instant critical and commercial hit ...

In many ways, it's a perfect story for where we are in 2023, picking up the pieces of the last few years and finding what's important to us again. I wanted a little more building, and the show rushes the final two episodes in a way that made me wonder if that's where most of the compression happened when it lost a chapter from the initial ten episodes that Mazin said would happen back in July 2021. In terms of storytelling and design, the show will be very familiar to gamers, almost too much at times. After a chilling prologue in which an expert on a talk show offers his belief that the world-ending pandemic will be fungal and not viral, "The Last of Us" opens properly in 2003, hours before society's collapse. [Pedro Pascal](/cast-and-crew/pedro-pascal)), an Austin-based contractor, and his brother Tommy ( [Gabriel Luna](/cast-and-crew/gabriel-luna)). It's a fascinating deconstruction of the game that leans on character and storytelling instead of action, and it does so in a way that's confidently grounded.

Los Angeles' pouring rain and red carpet flooding leaned into the post-apocalyptic ambiance of HBO's “The Last of Us” series at the Regency Village Theater ...

This time around it allowed us to take our time and have a slow burn with the relationship between Joel and Ellie, over a year-long journey that could have only been adapted into a TV show.” Co-showrunner and creator of the original game, Neil Druckmann was quick to add why it was best that “The Last of Us” was better suited as a series over a film. You have to get the casting right, the scripting right, the production design, the music, the editing, the visual effects.