The opportunities for storytelling in The Last of Us’ continuity are infinite and the chance to retell certain stories in new perspectives is precisely what a remake offers. To this day, a remake for The Last of Us has still not been officially confirmed. Many rumors have suggested that it exists, is in development, and will feature an attached Factions mode. There are also rumors that the alleged The Last of Us remake will be released this year. Rather, what has not been shared yet is how much of a narrative impact the remake will have on The Last of Us.
It is easy to assume that Joel and Ellie will be its protagonists once again, but there is a great wealth of character development available for The Last of Us outside its protagonists. Tommy and Maria’s relationship, as well as Joel and Tommy’s relationship in the early years of the apocalypse, would be interesting to see expanded upon. However, one of The Last of Us’ most creepy and sinister antagonists, David, would also be an exciting character to learn more about or perhaps simply accentuate more on next-gen platforms.
David’s Group Could Be Developed More in The Last of Us Remake
David and his group of cannibalistic bandits are antagonists in The Last of Us. Of course, as anyone who has played The Last of Us 2 will know, anyone can be perceived as an antagonist until their perspective is learned and empathized with.
Many fans may be unable to peer past their unfortunate dietary choices, but David claims that his group resorted to cannibalism out of desperation. Regardless, it seems strange that cannibalism would be necessary at this point in the apocalypse since Joel, Ellie, and seemingly every other group of survivors has been able to manage without indulging in human flesh.
Either way, David’s group is inherently interesting due to their cannibalism. Another incredible characteristic of David is how ambiguous the details around him and his camp are. Even when David explains to Ellie that he has medicine back at his camp, it is easy to assume that David has sent off his partner to get help to ambush Ellie later, with the promise of medicine being a lie. It turns out that David’s camp does have medicine, however, so there are some things he is being truthful about.
Players are also meant to assume that it was Joel who killed David’s men, which caused David and his group to track Joel and Ellie in the first place. However, in the way that David describes it, the death of his men happened only a few weeks earlier in the wintertime. Based on the fact that Joel is severely injured and incapacitated throughout the beginning of this winter sequence and as early as the previous fall, there is seemingly no way it could have been Joel slaughtering David’s men. This suggests that it is purely bad luck that David happened to find Ellie, and assumed naturally that she was the little girl traveling with the older man, as survivors from the slaughter had recounted.
This is an example of a situation that could be clarified in The Last of Us’ remake, or also left ambiguous for players to interpret it how they wish. But as for how this circumstance plays out in The Last of Us, it depicts David as reasonably angry about his men being killed and pursuing their killer, not as an antagonist maliciously hunting stray children, which is as important of a perspective to comprehend as is Abby’s perspective in The Last of Us 2.
Nolan North Needs to Reprise David in The Last of Us Remake
Nolan North’s portrayal of David is a perfect marriage of sinister and compassionate. In any given moment, David may seem baleful, alarming, and kind at the same time. It is always difficult to determine exactly what David’s feelings are, such as whether the compassion he expresses to Ellie is genuine, feigned, or predatory. There are mild implications as to what David plans to do with Ellie, whether that is simply killing and butchering her to produce a meal for his companions, or something as repugnant as rape.
Instead, Naughty Dog leaves these interpretations open-ended for what David would do to her, which allows fans to fill in those blanks and makes him much more repulsive and terrifying as a result. North’s portrayal aids these interpretations as he always speaks in a calm and collected demeanor, but there are cruel and eerie connotations to what he says and the manner in which he speaks.
This control over how kind and warm he sounds at times is likely from practice with other victims of a similar nature, which also demonstrates how frightening David’s character is, as well as how nuanced North’s performance is. Unfortunately, if The Last of Us remake does recast North, a lot of this nuanced performance would be squandered, even if a new actor portrayed him differently.
The character is iconic enough now that a new actor would likely draw backlash unless Naughty Dog wished for David to be portrayed in a way that is starkly opposite to how North played him. Still, rewriting the character drastically would be a disappointment due to how incredible North is as the original David. Instead, the character should only be given more lines and more context to further accentuate the abominable sensations that David evokes.
David’s Boss Fight Would Not Need to Change Much in the Remake
There are technically no legitimate boss fights in The Last of Us aside from David and the first bloater encounter in the Lincoln high school’s gymnasium, but even that boss is an enemy that players encounter somewhat regularly thereafter. David’s boss fight is relatively straightforward, culminating players’ experiences using stealth to circumvent and approach other enemies using stealth, but amplified to an extreme degree of tension in this cat-and-mouse encounter.
David is remarkably fast and sneaks around quietly, which is terrifying now that the player is being actively hunted by someone much more powerful than them. Indeed, players die from a single hit in this encounter as David runs a machete through Ellie, and distanced gunshots deter players from simply trying to sprint away.
Players are slower while crouched, which is nerve-wracking since David walks around at a brisk pace, and it can be difficult to round corners in time. Further, players must be mindful of broken porcelain along the carpeted floor that will alert David to their position if it is stepped on; alternatively, if players listen attentively, they can hear David step on the same porcelain while he is sneaking around in the second and third phases of the encounter. This boss encounter is another example of a staple in The Last of Us that the remake should not change.
The Last of Us 2 features a similar encounter with Abby and Tommy as Abby carefully pursues him, and it harkens back explicitly to the harrowing cat-and-mouse encounter from the original game. If the remake overhauls this encounter in any way, it hopefully will not supplant or disrupt the overwhelming anxiety induced from the encounter as the restaurant gradually smolders and burns.
The Last of Us remake is rumored to be in development for PS5.