The Last of Us TV Show Actor Gifted PS5 for “Research”

HBO’s The Last of Us television series might not yet have a release date, but the production appears to have kicked into full gear, and that goes for the actors as well. In order to have the actors better acquainted with the video games upon which the show is based, Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann has even gone so far as gifting Gabriel Luna a PlayStation 5 so that he can replay through The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part II. Luna is set to portray Tommy, the brother of Joel, in the adaptation. Joel himself is being portrayed by Pedro Pascal.

“A huge THANK YOU to [PlayStation] and the mastermind [Neil Druckmann] for gifting me the necessary equipment to further my research,” Luna said in a post on Instagram that shows off his new PS5. “I’m going to replay 1 and 2 in the mode where if you get whacked you have to go back to the start.”

You can check it out for yourself below:

“Neil Druckmann is without question the finest storyteller working in the video game medium, and The Last of Us is his magnum opus,” said Craig Mazin, who developed the TV series with Druckmann, when the HBO series was first announced. “Getting a chance to adapt this breathtaking work of art has been a dream of mine for years, and I’m so honored to do it in partnership with Neil.”

As noted above, it’s currently unclear when HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation might release. Announced cast for the title includes Luna as Tommy, Pedro Pascal as Joel, Bella Ramsey as Ellie, Anna Torv as Tess, and more. The show is developed and written by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, who will executive produce as well. Carolyn Strauss and Naughty Dog president Evan Wells will also executive produce, and The Last of Us show is a co-production between Sony Pictures Television and PlayStation Productions — which makes it the first television series for PlayStation Productions. The Last of Us Part II is now available for PlayStation 4. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the upcoming HBO adaptation right here.

What do you think of what we’ve heard about the upcoming HBO series? Are you excited to see Gabriel Luna as Tommy? Let us know in the comments, or feel free to reach out and hit me up directly over on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk all things gaming!

[H/T GamesRadar+]