*Spoiler warning: The article contains spoilers for both “The Last of Us” game and the streaming show.
“The Last of Us” (TLOU) is an award-winning game, winning over the interest of many who have been intrigued by its many remakes and as well as the HBO Max series released in 2023. Now, the HBO Max series is back for season two and some truly unexpected twists.
The popularity of both the show and the game were in good company. “It came out during a time when video games movies [and] shows were making a resurgence, such as ‘Detective Pikachu’ and ‘Sonic,’ after a long period of bad ones,” said OH senior Edward Phelps, “so I like to think it helped with that whole movement.”
However, there has been controversy regarding the actors who were picked for TLOU, like Bella Ramsey cast to play Ellie and Kaitlyn Dever cast to play Abby. A few fans complained about these actors not visually fitting the role of the characters they play.
Still, “it’s still a 10/10 adaptation,” said OE sophomore Batireedui Luvsandash. “It was a very enjoyable watch and didn’t make me want to rip my eyeballs out like another game’s live action adaptation. Season two isn’t as great as season one, but it is still good.”
In general, the major changes of season two of the series from part II of the game are that they flesh out the characters more and include minor details to make the show less dark than in the game and more humane.
“I don’t have an opinion on the show since I haven’t watched it yet. However, I will never continue to play part 2 mostly because I feel like they shouldn’t have killed Joel [The main character].” said OH senior Amauri Ruiz.
Many other differences included moving scenes around and adding parts that never happened in the game. In episode three (in which a town meeting is held to vote on a revenge quest after the main antagonist killed Joel), the episode as a whole never happened in the game.
In the game, Tommy (Joel’s younger brother) went after the group instead of waiting three months. In the show, Tommy and Joel were on patrol and got tricked. After Joel was killed, Tommy went after the group.
“They’ve changed a ton about the story, making some really good changes and fleshed out certain characters’ backgrounds and backstories.” said Luvsandash. “However, the biggest gripe I have with the show is that if you’re going to change that much about the story, why not make it your own show? Redo Joel’s death or even get rid of it. Divert from the source material.”
Many people are not too happy with the many changes, and at the time of writing, there have been only four episodes. Regardless, HBO is working with the game developer Naughty Dog, and the show is diverting from the game to make it more humane and less dark.
I'm Enzo Elia and I really enjoy video games and talking about many topics. this is my first year on staff, I'm a senior. You can contact me by emailing 42Fifty@sd308.org and putting my name in the subject line. We welcome comments on our articles and feedback on our publication!
