Close on the heels of the release announcement of ‘Spiderman’ star Tom Holland’s on-screen adaptation of ‘Uncharted’ videogame, HBO’s highly anticipated adaptation of the superhit PlayStation game ‘The Last of Us’ will reportedly start filming an almost year-long schedule, which is set to commence from July 5, 2021, in Calgary city of Canada. It is mention-worthy that projects like ‘Interstellar’ and ‘Fargo’ were also previously shot here.
This horror-adventure television series will feature charismatic actor Pedro Pascal, who was appreciated for his role of ‘Oberyn Martell’ in the fourth season of the adulated fantasy-drama ‘Game of Thrones’. Subsequently, his portrayal of the real-life character of a retired DEA agent ‘Javier Pena’, who investigated the infamous Columbian drug-lord ‘Pablo Escobar’. Thereafter, he worked in several films such ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’, ‘The Equalizer 2’ and the more recent ‘Wonder Woman 1984’. Pascal was last seen and cheered in ‘Iron Man’ director Jon Favreau’s TV show ‘The Mandalorian’ (within the ‘Star Wars’ universe).
Alongside Pascal, who will be seen playing Joel’s character in this ambitious HBO project, the show will also feature his ‘Game of Thrones’ co-star ‘Bella Ramsey’, who will essay the original video game character – Ellie. Ramsey had enacted the role of the fierce noblewoman ‘Lyanna Mormont’ in ‘Game of Thrones’, although Pascal’s and Ramsey’s character did not share screen space in the show. She was also seen in the 2020 film ‘Resistance’ alongside ‘Jesse Eisenberg’.
The original survival-horror game ‘The Last of Us’, released in the year 2013, revolved around two principal characters: ‘Joel’ and ‘Ellie’, set in the backdrop of a post-apocalyptic world full of infected creatures. The basic premise of the game was that Joel, a smuggler, is hired to transport a teenager Ellie across the country, while protecting her from omnipresent dangers.
Written and directed by Naughty Dog’s ‘Neil Druckmann’ (the man behind another blockbuster game ‘Uncharted’), ‘The Last of Us’ is regarded as one of the best games ever produced and boasts of a whopping Metacritic score of 95. The game has reportedly sold more than 20 million units by October 2019.
Craig Mazin, creator of the illustrious HBO miniseries ‘Chernobyl’, will collaborate with Druckmann to give us the small-screen version of ‘The Last of Us’, which we hope will gratify fans of the game and on-screen enthusiasts alike.