Horror 'The Last of Us' HBO Series

[Drizzle]

Looks awesome!

I can't wait. The fact that we got a full trailer this early means it could probably air as soon as Jan/Feb.

 

[Man in the Suit]

Teaser in a higher quality video on HBO's site. The least compressed one I've seen.

 

[Luigi]

Looks awesome!

 

[Detective Conan]

 

[Still Wynning]

This looks fantastic. Can’t wait!

Judging by a shot or two in the trailer, like the shot of the carousel with Ellie and Riley (played by Storm Reid, it looks like they are incorporating stuff from the Left Behind DLC.

I wonder how future seasons are going to adapt to stuff, seeing as how they are filling and expanding on stuff and it’s not just going to be a straight one to one adaptation of the game, by necessity of the nature of playing a game versus watching some thing play out on the screen independently of your interacting with it.

This is just my guess on how things will probably play out throughout the series.

Spoiler

Season one: pretty much the first game and the DLC story, with some expansion on the world and a few additional characters added here or there.

– Season two: Pretty much all the events that take place from when we see Joel telling Tommy about what he did in the last game to when Ellie abandons Joel after he tells her the truth. I am pretty convinced that they are going to use a lot of season two and three to expand on stuff in those flashbacks, particularly all the stuff with Abby and her days leading up to and starting out in the WLF. I can see them doing a back-and-forth narrative throughout the season weaving between Eli and Abby and showing a lot of the events that transpired up to that point through flashbacks. Plus, introducing Abby into the story earlier lets us spend more time with her character and helps us get to know her better, up until that inevitable hammer drops, so that we get in her headspace a lot more and understand what she does and it doesn’t feel as sudden. I almost think that the first episode of that second season will parallel the first episode of the first season, where we get a lot of her interior and personal life, before she is suddenly impacted by the tragic death of her father.

– Season three: I could see this being an adaptation of a lot of the events in the days leading up to Joel’s death, plus some posthumous stuff after. You could either do a more linear narrative and have that tragic scene cap off the end of the season, or you have it happen at the end the first episode to hook the audience, and just weave in flashbacks of each of the respective characters throughout all of the rest of the episodes throughout the season. Not sure which event you could end the season on. Maybe when Ellie kills that one woman out of rage. Or, if you’re wanting to parallel the first two seasons, have it be the end of the first episode of season four.

– Season four: Pretty much most of the rest of part two. Still not sure where you would begin, but I think you could finish on the big showdown between Ellie and Abby in the rundown, abandoned theater in the last episode, and the final moments being her letting Dinah live and leaving them.

– Season five: Pretty much the remainder of the game, from when Ellie and Dinah are settled down on that farm with JJ, up until that confrontation at the end of the game in the water. I think they are going to expand a ton on this when they get to it. So much they could do with expanding on those events of Ellie in that time of peace, contrasted with Abby’s capture and captivity.

Anyway, just my thoughts.

 

[Drizzle]

I'm not surprised. If the story is intact from the game as it seems to be and you have capable actors like Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as the leads you'd really have to go out of your way to mess it up.

 

[Arachnerd]

This looks fantastic. Can’t wait!

Judging by a shot or two in the trailer, like the shot of the carousel with Ellie and Riley (played by Storm Reid, it looks like they are incorporating stuff from the Left Behind DLC.

I wonder how future seasons are going to adapt to stuff, seeing as how they are filling and expanding on stuff and it’s not just going to be a straight one to one adaptation of the game, by necessity of the nature of playing a game versus watching some thing play out on the screen independently of your interacting with it.

This is just my guess on how things will probably play out throughout the series.

Spoiler

Season one: pretty much the first game and the DLC story, with some expansion on the world and a few additional characters added here or there.

– Season two: Pretty much all the events that take place from when we see Joel telling Tommy about what he did in the last game to when Ellie abandons Joel after he tells her the truth. I am pretty convinced that they are going to use a lot of season two and three to expand on stuff in those flashbacks, particularly all the stuff with Abby and her days leading up to and starting out in the WLF. I can see them doing a back-and-forth narrative throughout the season weaving between Eli and Abby and showing a lot of the events that transpired up to that point through flashbacks. Plus, introducing Abby into the story earlier lets us spend more time with her character and helps us get to know her better, up until that inevitable hammer drops, so that we get in her headspace a lot more and understand what she does and it doesn’t feel as sudden. I almost think that the first episode of that second season will parallel the first episode of the first season, where we get a lot of her interior and personal life, before she is suddenly impacted by the tragic death of her father.

– Season three: I could see this being an adaptation of a lot of the events in the days leading up to Joel’s death, plus some posthumous stuff after. You could either do a more linear narrative and have that tragic scene cap off the end of the season, or you have it happen at the end the first episode to hook the audience, and just weave in flashbacks of each of the respective characters throughout all of the rest of the episodes throughout the season. Not sure which event you could end the season on. Maybe when Ellie kills that one woman out of rage. Or, if you’re wanting to parallel the first two seasons, have it be the end of the first episode of season four.

– Season four: Pretty much most of the rest of part two. Still not sure where you would begin, but I think you could finish on the big showdown between Ellie and Abby in the rundown, abandoned theater in the last episode, and the final moments being her letting Dinah live and leaving them.

– Season five: Pretty much the remainder of the game, from when Ellie and Dinah are settled down on that farm with JJ, up until that confrontation at the end of the game in the water. I think they are going to expand a ton on this when they get to it. So much they could do with expanding on those events of Ellie in that time of peace, contrasted with Abby’s capture and captivity.

Anyway, just my thoughts.

I don't think they should redo everything to the exact, the thing with an adaptation like this is that it can still follow the same overall idea while taking some chances and maybe some different directions. Truth be told, I'm not a fan of the execution of the second game, but there's definitely ways to majorly improve it imo should they go down that route. But that's too early to comment on at the moment.

 

[samsnee]

 

[Sawyer]

Not really familiar with the game (which will no doubt come in handy for me to continue enjoying the show while the fanboys flip out about it being any less than 100% faithful to the source material), but it’ll be nice to watch a show where you’re sure that Pedro Pascal is really there when his character is on screen.

 

[Marvel united]

This looks incredibly well made. I was always protective of any TLOU adaptation, as I always felt that Joel & Ellie belonged to Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, but they may have won me over.

We'll see.

 

[Kane52630]

Not really familiar with the game (which will no doubt come in handy for me to continue enjoying the show while the fanboys flip out about it being any less than 100% faithful to the source material), but it’ll be nice to watch a show where you’re sure that Pedro Pascal is really there when his character is on screen.

It's been pretty faithful so far.

 

[Doctor Jones]

This looks like it could legitimately be the first great video game adaptation.

 

[Still Wynning]

I don't think they should redo everything to the exact, the thing with an adaptation like this is that it can still follow the same overall idea while taking some chances and maybe some different directions. Truth be told, I'm not a fan of the execution of the second game, but there's definitely ways to majorly improve it imo should they go down that route. But that's too early to comment on at the moment.

Yeah, I didn’t mean to say that it should follow everything exactly to the letter, just more a general guideline of how the events in the games should play out in a series format. I don’t doubt that certain details and events will play out differently within the show to accommodate the change in format. I mean, just from watching the trailer, you can already tell that certain things here or there are being changed, but it still feels like and seems to maintain the spirit of the original game.

Also, in regards part two, while I don’t entirely agree with your assessment of the execution, I do think with the benefit of hindsight, they can tell the story differently and more economically by introducing those elements earlier into the show, weave them throughout and continuously build them up to the point where the beginning of part two starts, instead of just backloading it into the last half of the game. That way, we get to know Abby better as a person gradually over about the span of two seasons, and that moment, as horrible as it will be, won’t feel as abrupt when it happens.

It’s kind of like the whole Hitchcock thing with the bomb. The game version was like the bomb going off without you knowing if there was a bomb to begin with. In the show, you know that the bomb is there under the table, so you’ll be dreading it up until it finally explodes. It’ll still hurt, but at least you’ll be prepared for it.

 

[Doctor Jones]

When they get to it, they should just reveal up front

Spoiler

Joel killed Abby's father and show us that scene as soon as possible. Part of the problem of the game, as much as I liked it, was we don't know why she kills Joel, we just know that he did something bad once maybe? Until too late in the game. The theme of empathy could be stronger by you know... giving us a reason to empathize with her.

 

[flickchick85]

*crosses fingers* Please, oh please, let the first great videogame adaptation be upon us. With how that Uncharted thing turned out, I can't bear to watch BOTH my Naughty Dog faves get butchered in the span of a year.

I do get very good vibes from this one, though. Also, the shot that got me the most hyped was that first one of Melanie Lynskey, because I had no clue she was in this. One of the most underrated actresses alive, imo.

 

[Sawyer]

I’m so out of the loop on gaming stuff that video game adaptations are actually the closest I get to feeling like the normals do when they complain about there being so many superhero movies.

Like, seriously, if Sonic the ****ing Hedgehog is as good as it gets… woof.

But this looks good and HBO is HBO, so I’ll be there.

 

[Kane52630]

When they get to it, they should just reveal up front

Spoiler

Joel killed Abby's father and show us that scene as soon as possible. Part of the problem of the game, as much as I liked it, was we don't know why she kills Joel, we just know that he did something bad once maybe? Until too late in the game. The theme of empathy could be stronger by you know... giving us a reason to empathize with her.

Yeah but that's ways ahead, we don't know where this season ends and it seems like they're preparing to have at least a season 2.

 

[Kane52630]

I’m so out of the loop on gaming stuff that video game adaptations are actually the closest I get to feeling like the normals do when they complain about there being so many superhero movies.

Like, seriously, if Sonic the ****ing Hedgehog is as good as it gets… woof.

But this looks good and HBO is HBO, so I’ll be there.

The game is so good that you probably don't even need to play it, if you want, you can actually just watch a 10 hour cut of the game on youtube where it's nothing but cutscenes and small parts of gameplay.

 

[Drizzle]

This looks like it could legitimately be the first great video game adaptation.

And it almost feels like a cheat in that way because the game itself is such a cinematic experience that it already feels like a movie or a show in the way it unfolds. As @Kane52630 put it...

The game is so good that you probably don't even need to play it, if you want, you can actually just watch a 10 hour cut of the game on youtube where it's nothing but cutscenes and small parts of gameplay.

 

[Arachnerd]

The main reason I'm hyped for this Craig Mazin who did the amazing Chernobyl mini-series, so taking that into account and the fact that this looks to be in the same level of quality judging by the trailer is a good thing.

 

[Still Wynning]

Yeah but that's ways ahead, we don't know where this season ends and it seems like they're preparing to have at least a season 2.

I think, with how many years the second game covers, you would have to do at least three seasons to cover all of that ground. With how much they’re already expanding on stuff from part one in the first season as a result of a change in format, I would imagine that they are going to elaborate a lot more on stuff and events in part 2 that we didn’t spend as much time in and give those elements a lot more time and room to build and breathe. I mean, the entire last section of the game,

Spoiler

with Ellie and Dina with baby JJ on the farm and Abby/Lev in captivity in Santa Barbara

, could almost be expanded to its own entire season.

No way you could cover all of that game’s story in just one season. With the amount of storytelling potential and world exploration this series’ world provides, I could even see this lasting for several seasons. Honestly, they would be foolish not to take that opportunity.

So many avenues and possibilities.

 

[Kane52630]

Yeah I can see this go for at least 6 seasons just to cover the two games.

 

[#root]

I forgot Craig Mazin was involved with this. Between him and the cast, I’m hopeful that this can be a legitimately great video game adaptation.

 

[Kane52630]

Interesting, I just read on wiki that the show's virus outbreak part takes place in 2003, not 2013 like in the game.

 

[Kane52630]

Just remembered it's the same Hank Williams song from the first teaser of the game.