HBO Drops ‘The Last of Us’ First-Look Photo – The Hollywood Reporter
HBO is offering up a glimpse of its adaptation of The Last of Us.
During Thursday’s Summer Game Fest, series co-creator and executive producer Neil Druckmann shared the first photo from the show, featuring stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as lead characters Joel and Ellie.
Druckmann — who’s also the best-selling video game’s writer and creative director — also announced that Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker, voice actors in the Last of Us games, will be part of the HBO series. They’ll play different characters than the ones they voice in the games.
HBO gave The Last of Us a series order in November 2020. Based on Naughty Dog’s video game franchise, the show is set 20 years after civilization as we know it is destroyed. Joel (Pascal, The Mandalorian), a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie (Game of Thrones alum Ramsey), a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal journey as they traverse the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.
The cast also includes Gabriel Luna, Merle Dandridge, Nico Parker, Murray Bartlett, Nick Offerman, Jeffrey Pierce and Anna Torv.
Druckmann and Craig Mazin are co-creators, executive producers, writers and directors. Carolyn Strauss, Evan Wells, Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan and Rose Lam also exec produce. HBO and Sony Pictures TV are producing along with PlayStation Productions, Word Games and Naughty Dog. Kantemir Balagov, Jasmila Žbanić, Ali Abbasi, Peter Hoar, Jeremy Webb and Liza Johnson are also set to direct episodes.
Johnson is repped by Innovative Artists and Anonymous Content. Baker is repped by DPN Talent.