The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann reflected on some perceived differences between Joel from the games and the one depicted in HBO's hit TV series, including the notion that Pedro Pascal's portrayal appears to be softer than his game counterpart. His comments arrive just as the sixth episode of The Last of Us Season 1 debuted to rave reviews on February 19, maintaining the immense momentum established by the preceding episodes.
Existing fans of the franchise have repeatedly heaped praise on the fact that The Last of Us show manages to stay faithful to the original story while still taking some creative liberties which help it better fit the TV medium. One such difference lies in its overall level of brutality, as HBO's The Last of Us is much less violent than the games, with that change also being reflected on how its protagonists—and Joel, in particular—are depicted.
Warning! Minor spoilers for The Last of Us Season 1 Episode 6 ahead.
Speaking on the latest episode of HBO's The Last of Us Podcast, Druckmann suggested that although the show's Joel might appear to be softer than the one from the games, that's not necessarily so. Elaborating on that position, the creative director posited that the panic attacks experienced by Pascal's Joel during episode 6 aren't out of character, but simply something that wasn't really feasible for an interactive medium. A player-controlled camera that's "quite far back" from the protagonist did not allow the audience to see "what's going on with [Joel's] face," leaving the games to rely on dialogue as the main method of embellishing his traits and establishing character development.
As a result, while the events of episode 6 were originally depicted by making game Joel "more distant" in his numerous conversations with Ellie, the live-action adaptation had the luxury of doing close-ups whenever the creative vision benefited from such "intimate" moments, Druckmann explained. The Last of Us creator concluded that Joel's panic attacks in the show were one such attempt at portraying the character in a more subtle fashion which takes full advantage of the TV medium and avoids some of the more tropey dialogue from the original script.
This is not the first occasion on which Druckmann compared Naughty Dog's games to HBO's hit adaptation. Back in January, he delved into the differences between directing The Last of Us games and TV show from the perspective of the only person who had the unique opportunity to do both.
The Last of Us has so far been a huge hit for HBO, averaging nearly 700,000 viewers in the United States alone. On top of that, the series has actually been rising in popularity since its mid-January premiere instead of following a typical inverted bell curve, with one recent report suggesting The Last of Us already surpassed House of the Dragon—one of HBO's most successful shows ever—in some key streaming metrics, including viewership minutes.
The Last of Us airs Sunday nights on HBO and HBO Max.
