A video shared on TikTok compares several scenes shown in The Last of Us HBO show's recent trailer to similar shots from Naughty Dog's video game. If there's one thing that video game fans can trust, it's that film and TV adaptations rarely stay true to the source material. On the rare occasion they do, there's a chance for something special to be made. While it's still too early to say The Last of Us on HBO will truly embrace the original game, early evidence is positive.
Two weeks ago, HBO released the first full official trailer for The Last of Us show. The show is being made by Craig Mazin, best known for his work on HBO's Chernobyl, in collaboration with Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann. Straight away, the talent behind The Last of Us show is clearly capable of great things, and rooted in a love for the source material. That does stand out in The Last of Us trailer, too, but how exactly it does that is hard to know without more specific analysis.
While it's just a short TikTok video, a creation from user Amiceaa provides an idea of just how dedicated The Last of Us show is to authentically re-creating the video game's experience. Four different clips are compared between the show's trailer and cinematics from the video game, two of which are undeniably from identical scenes re-made 1:1 and two that very well could be.
The two obvious re-creations are of Ellie walking across a plank between buildings, which despite the different backgrounds is framed by the camera identically. The second is of Ellie and Riley Abel making monster-like gestures toward the camera, a scene directly pulled from The Last of Us DLC prequel Left Behind.
The other two scenes are less clear about their influence, if only because they're very straightforward scenes. One has Joel driving, which only really shows how much actor Pedro Pascal looks like Joel from the game. The second is Joel looking panicked. Both scenes could absolutely be from identical scenes in both the show and game, but it's difficult to say without a longer look at them.
What is clear is that, even from four short video clips, The Last of Us show is going to directly draw from cinematic sequences in the PlayStation game. How much is from the game and how much is original isn't clear, and is likely to lean more toward original content. But fans of The Last of Us will undoubtedly appreciate how much attention is paid to the source material.
The Last of Us show debuts on HBO Max on January 15, 2023.
