Hit video game The Last Of Us is getting the small screen treatment as HBO launches the adaptation starring none other than Game of Thrones stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsay.
Like the game, the series is set in a post-apocalyptic future with zombie-style predators loose around the United States, while Pedro, 46, as Joel and Bella, 18, as Ellie have to navigate surviving in a world ravaged by infection.
Joel, who has suffered a traumatic past, takes on the task of smuggling Ellie out of a quarantine zone across the US, with the young girl possibly being the key to a vaccine being created.
The video game, which first launched in 2013, lets players control Joel, while now the television adaptation, which is the first HBO series to be based on a video game, will follow Joel on his quest to keep himself and Ellie alive.
Here’s everything you need to know about the intense series…
When does The Last of Us come out?
The Last of Us will be able to stream from January 15 on HBO Max.
For UK viewers, weekly episodes will be available on Sky TV and NOW from January 16.
Does it follow the same story as the video game?
The series will be following the game, with producer Craig Mazin that the adaptation will enhance the video game version amid trepidation from fans.
‘I think fans of something worry that, when the property gets licenced to someone else, those people don’t really understand it, or are going to change it,’ said Mazin in an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live.
‘In this case, I’m doing it with the guy who did it, and so the changes that we’re making are designed to fill things out and expand, not to undo, but rather to enhance.’
He is referring to Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann, who directed and wrote The Last Of Us and its sequel and will be producing the show alongside Mazin.
He has also already provided a key example. Shortly after the series was announced, a fan stated that it had better keep Ellie gay, to which Mazin responded on Twitter with, ‘You have my word.’
Who is in the cast?
Alongside Game of Thrones stars Pedro and Bella, the former of which is known for his work in The Mandalorian while the latter also appeared in His Dark Materials, The Last of Us stars Gabriel Luna, Ashley Johnson and Anna Torv.
Other actors appearing include Storm Reid, Melanie Lynskey and Murray Bartlett as well as Jeffrey Pierce.
How to watch in the UK
The Last of Us will begin airing in the UK on Monday, January 16 at 2am.
It will be available to watch, with new episodes dropping weekly, on Sky TV and streaming service Now.
Is there a trailer?
In the trailer, Bella and Joel are seen on the run in the search of a cure.
‘I’m taking you with me,’ Joel tells Bella as he warns her: ‘Do what I say when I say.’
The pair face their fears across ice-cold lands, while Bella learns of her ‘greater purpose’ as they learn who around them they can trust.
The final clip sees terrifying zombie-like creatures come out of fire towards them, but will they survive until they find a cure?
The official synopsis of the show reads :’The story takes place 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone.
‘What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse across the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.’
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The Last of Us airs on Monday, January 16 at 2am on Sky.
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