When you have a property as renowned for its cinematic storytelling as The Last Of Us (and I’m not getting into what you may think about the direction of The Last Of Us 2‘s story), you need to have the right people in place if you’re going to adapt it into a TV show like HBO are doing. We’ve already found out our star cast, namely Pedro Pascal (of Game of Thrones and The Mandalorian fame) as Joel, and Bella Ramsay (also of Game of Thrones fame) as Ellie, as well as Gabriel Luna (Agents of SHIELD) as Tommy (Joel’s brother). Now though, we’ve found out who’s actually going to direct the thing.
Oscar nominee Jasmila Žbanić (who has worked on Quo Vadis, Aida?) and Ali Abbasi (Border) are the chosen ones to adapt the gritty videogame onto TV. Žbanić’s Quo, Vadis, Aida? is up for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film at this Sunday’s Oscars, while Abbasi’s 2018 film, Border, was selected as the Swedish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at 2019’s Academy Awards.
For the uninitiated, The Last Of Us is set years after a virus has swept across America (yeah, I know, too real), and Joel (Pascal) is introduced to Ellie (Ramsey), a girl who appears to be immune to the virus. It’s Joel’s responsibility to avoid the infected and renegade humans and get Ellie to a safe point across the country where a potential cure can be created with Ellie’s unique condition.
The series will be helmed by Neil Druckmann, Co-President at Naughty Dog and head writer on The Last Of Us game series, and Craig Mazin, creator of HBO’s critically-acclaimed Chernobyl series.
Are you excited about the upcoming show? Are you going to watch it when it eventually aires? Leave us a comment down below.