The Last of Us Creator Was Terrified at First Movie Plans Before the HBO Series

The Last of Us‘ creator was actually terrified at the initial movie plans before the TV show became a thing. HBO is making a massive event series out of the beloved PlayStation game with Craig Mazin. But, Neil Druckmann spoke to The New Yorker about what the first vision for the movie would have been. In the piece, the history of The Last of Us was laid out with Sony’s Screen Gems ready to take the reins. That decision makes a lot of sense when you consider how that place did with the Resident Evil films. 

Sam Raimi was attached to direct, but there were other challenges that needed to be addressed too. The New Yorker article says that Druckmann was looking for something like No Country For Old Men, but the company thought something larger scale with more flash would do better. But, then Screen Gems relinquished the rights and Craig Mazin stepped into the picture as a possible screenwriter. “Wait,” Druckmann said. “The ‘Chernobyl’ guy? Why can’t I meet with him?” The rest was history.

Mazin actually spoke to Empire about The Last of Us recently. He really feels like the Sony game is the best story in all of gaming. A lot of fans might agree because of their loved for Joel and Ellie. In a lot of ways, that dynamic between the two characters really sells everything that goes on in that world. Yes, there are monsters and bad guys out there lurking in the darkness. But, players are driven by their desire to keep both of them safe, more than anything. 

“It’s an open-and-shut case: this is the greatest story that has ever been told in video games,” Mazin argued. “[Joel and Ellie] didn’t shoot anything out of their eyeballs. They were just people. And that, in and of itself, is remarkably rare in games. The fact that they kept it so grounded, and really made you feel – I had never experienced anything like it, and I’ve been playing video games since 1977.”

What Can You Expect From The Last of Us?

One of the most interesting elements of The Last of Us will be how much the show deviates from the games. It’s not like every single thing can be exactly the same. (A ton of The Walking Dead fans just nodded along somewhere.) So, get ready for Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey’s take on the beloved duo trying to make their way through the apocalypse. 

HBO describes the series, “The series takes place 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.”

Are you glad they went for a series instead? Let us know in the comments down below!