HBO series THE LAST OF US returns to violence, and co-creator Neil Druckmann explains why

Lots of fans of The Last of Us video game franchises are excited about the upcoming adaptation of the HBO series. The footage we’ve seen from the series so far looks great, but there will definitely be some differences between the game and the series. We just learned that one of those differences will be the amount of violence we see.

There’s a lot of detailed, brutal, bloody violence in the game, and that too was wrapped up in a beautifully told intimate story. Well, according to the co-creator of the show and co-president of Naughty Dog Neil Druckman, the next series will reduce the violence. During a recent interview with SFX Magazine/Games Radar, Druckmann explained why:

“We need a certain amount of action, or violence, that we could use for mechanics so that you can connect with Joel and go into a state of flux. So you would really feel like you are connected with this avatar on screen and see the world through his eyes.

“But that doesn’t exist in a passive medium. One of the things I enjoyed hearing about [co-creator Craig Mazin] and HBO very early on was, “Let’s cut out all but essential violence.” This allowed the violence to have an even greater impact than the game, because when you keep showing the threat and you see people’s reaction to a threat, that makes everything scarier. And when we reveal the Infected and the Clickers, you can see what brought humanity down and why everyone is so scared.”

This certainly seems like a good reason to reduce the violence in the series. Anything they can do to strengthen the story is a good thing!

Peter Pascal stars in the series as Joel, and Bella Ramsey is taking on the role of Ellie in the upcoming video game adaptation. They are united by Gabriel Luna as Joel’s brother Tommy Anna Torv, Merle Dandrige, Nick Offerman, Storm Reid, Nico Parker, Gabriel Luna, Jeffery Pierceand Murray Barlett.

The Last of Us takes place 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed by a deadly virus. Joel (Pascal), a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle 14-year-old Ellie (Ramsey) out of an oppressive quarantine zone to the Fireflies, a cure-seeking organization. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal and harrowing journey as both must traverse the United States and depend on each other for survival.

Craig Mazinthe creator of the acclaimed HBO limited series Chernobylhe wrote The Last of Us and is also an executive producer with Neil Druckmanwho is the writer and creative director of the game.

The series will be released on HBO Max on January 15, 2023.