Top 10 Things We Need in HBO's The Last of Us

The one thing we don’t want to see, is for the series to be a 1:1 adaptation of Joel & Ellie’s journey across the United States. That story is perfect as it is, don’t change it and don’t remake it. Instead, for this premise; we’re going to take a page from “The Witcher” Netflix series and propose that the TV series should be set before the events of the main game. The other reason why it’d be ideal to focus on the early outbreak as opposed to Joel & Ellie’s “The Walking Dead” like journey, is that it runs the risk of being compared to “The Walking Dead” rather than its own thing. It would certainly raise tensions to see how society adapts to the Cordyceps outbreak.

The one downside of having the series be a prequel; is that we’re unlikely to see Ellie play a major role, though we will have the 2nd game to make up for that. That said, it would easily give Joel the screen time needed, to be further fleshed out and explain his backstory. How did he deal with the death of Sarah during the early outbreak days? Why did he have a falling out with his brother Tommy that sent them to other ends of the United States, how did he end up crossing paths with both Tess & Marlene? The advantage of a Joel prequel is that we can also explore these fundamental relationships, intertwined within a grounded story of grieving over one’s lost child.

Almost immediately after the news broke about this project being in the works, HBO tweeted out a gif of The Fireflies emblem, along with their motto “Look For The Light”. This could indicate that we will find out more about how the Fireflies were founded, and how they came to power in the midst of the Cordyceps outbreak AND their conflict with the US military. This would also mean that Marlene would have a more prominent role in the show, as she was one of the founding members of the group. Most importantly, this story arc could set the stage for large scale conflicts between Firefly members and US soldiers … with Clickers in the middle among the battlefield.

What made Chernobyl a masterpiece of television is that despite being based off the infamous 1986 accident, it was extremely relatable to the modern day political landscape. It focused on the theme of “The Cost of Lies” and how those in power tried to downplay and coverup the severity of the worst nuclear disaster in history. Look to today; and it’s impossible to escape the news of the Coronavirus, and how various governments around the world have employed different ways to contain the outbreak. More importantly; how some have botched appropriate measures to contain the virus. Since we mentioned how this show may explain the origins of the Fireflies, perhaps distrust of the government was how they grew in numbers, or why vaccine tests failed. It’s certainly possible to convey all this within the lore of “The Last Of Us”.

“The Last Of Us” was solely focused on what happened within the “United States”. From start to finish, we didn’t hear as much of a peep as to what happened elsewhere in the world. Following up from our last entry, we know different nations have employed different ways to approach and contain the Coronavirus. Maybe some nations were able to completely eradicate the infection, maybe others are completely devoid of human life. Perhaps this could be an important piece of social commentary on the price of secrecy and patriotism in the face of a pandemic. There’s certainly no right or wrong answer here, and that’s what can lead to compelling storytelling.

This seems almost like a no brainer. Gustavo Santaolalla’s iconic score in “The Last of Us” perfectly captured the emotional beats of despair and heartbreak, and the bittersweet beauty of a world reclaimed by nature. Outside of “The Last of Us” Santaolalla’s discography really speaks for itself. His most recent TV series credit was for the Netflix series “Narcos”, he’s also managed to snag a BAFTA for his score on “The Motorcycle Diaries” and an Academy Award for his work on “Brokeback Mountain”. Chernobyl’s composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, (Hilda- Guu-nah-ta-dier) who also won an academy award for “Joker” would also be highly ideal too should Santaolalla be unavailable.

As we mentioned earlier, since it’s possible the show could focus on the origins of the Fireflies, it would also mean that one of its founders; Marlene could have a lead role in the show. It would be the perfect opportunity considering her appearances in the game and comic series has been relatively sparse. What we do know is that she was supposedly really close to Ellie’s mother Anna, who apparently died within a day of giving birth to Ellie. Marlene made the promise to her dying friend that she would watch over her daughter. Watching over an adopted baby daughter AND leading a revolution in a mushroom zombie infected United States? There’s a lot to work with here.

Whether or not Troy Baker ends up reprising his role as Joel remains to be seen, seeing as Video Game adaptations rarely (if ever) recast their voice actors into live action roles. It’s also impossible for Ashley Johnson to play Ellie given that she’s 36. But that doesn’t mean they should be looked over by casting directors, as both of them have a strong resume of physical acting performances ... even if Troy’s is mostly Motion Capture. Plus it would be an absolute sin if the original stars of the show weren’t honored in some way. In fact the most ideal role to give to Ashley: She could be the one to play Ellie’s mother Anna.

We would love to see the cast of the game reprise their roles in the show, especially seeing as many of them look their parts: Merle Dandridge as Marlene, Jeffrey Pierce as Tommy & Annie Wersching as Tess. But there’s always the risk of scheduling conflicts, so we have a few alternate options just in case. Obviously, some fans might say Hugh Jackman for Joel, but A-List Hollywood actors might be impossible for a TV series. So our shortlist of alternates for both Joel and Tommy (since they’re brothers) would be Nikolaj Coster Waldau, Joel Edgerton, or Travis Fimmel. For Marlele, our shortlist would comprise of Rosario Dawson, Simone Missick or Sonequa Martin-Green. We tried alternates for Tess, but honestly; Wersching is too perfect in that role to recast.

It’s no secret that what really made “The Last Of Us” such an incredible story were its complex and fleshed out characters. So while we would love to see characters like Joel, Marlene, Tommy and Tess brought to life in a live action series, we’d also like to meet new characters in the world of the franchise. There are always limitations with writing for pre-established characters, but Druckmann has proven that he’s not shy about introducing new ones against fan expectations. Let’s not forget that one “Last Of Us Part 2” trailer that only starred characters we had never seen before. We also hope against hope, that these new characters aren’t just Red Shirt for the apocalypse either. Still if Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin can’t get us emotionally attached to these characters, who else can?