Apropos of it being Monday, HBO’s dropped the first full-length trailer for its upcoming adaptation of The Last of Us, starring The Mandalorian’s Pedro Pascal as Joel and Game of Thrones’ Bella Ramsey as Ellie. To say that the trailer makes it seem like the show might be something of a banger would be an understatement.
Like Naughty Dog’s games, HBO’s The Last of Us from co-showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann tells the story of Joel (Pascal) and Ellie (Ramsey), two people living in a world devastated by the outbreak of a deadly fungus that mutates those it infects into horrific monsters. Rather than focusing on the monsters themselves, The Last of Us’ trailer instead puts more energy into spotlighting just how much of its first season will feature Joel and Ellie keeping their wits about them as the world around them continues to go to hell.
Based just on the handful of shots in the trailer, it’s difficult to say how The Last of Us will stack up to other zombie genre franchises built on the idea of zooming in on human drama during the apocalypse. But if the show ends up being anywhere near as unnerving and haunting as the games, HBO’s take on The Last of Us might be appointment watching when it hits HBO in 2023.