HBO sets a January 2023 debut for The Last of Us series

By Blair Marnell Updated November 2, 2022

Many years ago, film critic Roger Ebert infamously declared that “video games could not in principle be art.” Because of his position, gamers took Ebert to task and tried to explain that the medium had come a long way since the days of Atari. Ironically, the late Mr. Ebert died a few months before the release of The Last of Us in June 2013. Sony and developer Naughty Dog’s powerful fusion of gameplay and cinematic storytelling created an experience that rivals any film or TV show. This game is art. And early next year, the first-ever live-action adaptation of The Last of Us is coming to HBO.

To the edge of the universe and back. #TheLastOfUs premieres January 15 on @HBOMax. pic.twitter.com/TPJxOBZRBr

— The Last of Us (@TheLastofUsHBO) November 2, 2022

As you can see in the poster above, The Last of Us will premiere on Sunday, January 15, 2023, with new episodes following weekly on HBO and HBO Max. The Mandalorian‘s Pedro Pacal is starring in the series as Joel, a man haunted by personal loss in a post-apocalyptic America that was ravaged by a plague. Within both the game and the show, Joel is hired to escort a young girl named Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across the country. And because Ellie is immune to the plague, her safety may be vital to the survival of humanity itself.

Joel and Ellie in HBO's The Last of Us.

There’s no shortage of action in the story, but one of the core parts of the game is the way that Joel and Ellie emotionally bond and rely on each other to survive the experience. That’s one of the main reasons why the story resonates so strongly with gamers. Neil Druckmann, the writer of the original game, teamed up with Chernobyl showrunner Craig Mazin for HBO’s The Last of Us; which should insure that the important aspects of the experience will remain intact within the show.

Gabriel Luna co-stars in the series as Joel’s brother, Tommy, with Merle Dandridge as Marlene, Anna Torv as Tess, Nico Parker as Sarah, Murray Bartlett as Frank, Nick Offerman as Bill, Storm Reid as Riley Abel, Jeffrey Pierce as Perry, Lamar Johnson as Henry, Keivonn Woodard as Sam, Graham Greene as Marlon, Elaine Miles as Florence, and Melanie Lynskey as Kathleen. Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, the original voice actors for Joel and Ellie, will also appear as different characters within the show.

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Blair Marnell has been an entertainment journalist for over 15 years. His bylines have appeared in Wizard Magazine, Geek…

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The Last of Us season 2: plot rumors, possible characters, likely cast

Joel and Ellie look at the camera in The Last of Us.

The first season of HBO's hit show The Last of Us has come to an end. After such a shocking and heart-wrenching conclusion, fans have been left anxious to see what will become of Joel and Ellie in season 2. Since the show's source material continues far beyond where the first season concludes, there is still so much to look forward to, and so many possibilities for the second.

Note: This article features spoilers for the second season of The Last of Us.
Plot rumors
Season 1 of the show adapted events from both the first game and the Left Behind DLC, so it's likely that season 2 will follow the story from The Last of Us Part II. Taking place four years after the original, this sequel follows Joel and Ellie after the latter learns that Joel stopped the Fireflies from killing her and making a cure for the Cordyceps pandemic. Here's everything that audiences could see in terms of the story.
Season 2 is just the half of it

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The Last of Us is over. But can a zombie outbreak happen in real life?

Joel holds a rifle in front of him as he enters a door covered in dried fungus in The Last of Us on HBO.

The Last of Us may be over for now, but the post-apocalyptic world it created, and the Infected zombie-like monsters that inhabit it, still linger in the memory. While clearly a work of fiction, The Last of Us is effective because of its realism. From its authentic performances by leads Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey to its gritty depiction of a world gone mad, the show convincingly creates a reality where the outbreak that occurs at the beginning of the show is entirely possible. But how likely is such a scenario?

Jennings Gabriele is a microbiologist and a teacher with a master’s degree in microbiology and molecular genetics from Oklahoma State University. He’s also a lifelong gamer, having grown up in the 16-bit SNES and Sega Genesis era, who has been playing The Last of Us since it was first released a decade ago on the PS3. Digital Trends sat down with him to discuss the science of The Last of Us, what those creepy tendrils are all about, why fungi are uniquely suited to be the perfect monsters, and how feasible a fungal zombie apocalypse really is.

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Now that The Last of Us is over, you should watch these TV shows and movies

Pedro Pascal stands in front of Bella Ramsey in The Last of Us.

It had to end sometime. Season 1 and episode 9 of The Last of Us just finished, and a lot of people are probably bummed they can't get more postapocalyptic drama. Starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, the show chronicles a lonely man who guides a traumatized teenage girl across an unrecognizable America in the hopes of finding a cure for a fungal virus that has turned most of the world's population into flesh-eating zombies.

With an impressive 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and a steadily increasing viewership week after week, The Last of Us has already become the greatest video game adaptation ever made and now ranks among some of HBO's biggest shows. In case anyone is anxious to see more of the series, here are some shows/films similar to The Last of Us that will make the wait for season 2 easier.
A Quiet Place