Starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, the HBO series The Last of Us tells a post-apocalyptic story from a zombie-infested world.
How does the idea of starting a series mixed with a post-apocalyptic story come to your ears in these cold winter days, when the world has left a big epidemic behind and various disaster scenarios of the climate crisis are around us? This post-apocalyptic story, in which a parasitic fungus called Cordyceps takes over most of the population and turns them into zombies, takes place in The Last of Us, one of the most popular TV series of recent days. Do not be afraid to open the doors of this world that is struggling with people who have transformed into zombies, quarantine zones, and an incurable disease, because the adventure of Joel, a smuggler, and Ellie, who is only 14, turns this post-apocalyptic fiction into a road story.
The Last of Us, co-created by Craig Mazin, the author of Chernobyl, and Neil Druckmann, one of the creators of the game company Naughty Dog, is an adaptation of the game of the same name, created by Naughty Dog. The series tells a story where humanity almost turned into a zombie community two decades ago when a parasitic fungus called Cordyceps (a type of fungus that usually lives on arthropods) spread. The main protagonists of this story are Joel (Pedro Pascal), a smuggler in quarantine zones, and Ellie (Bella Ramsey), who is immune to this disease. The series is about Jeol’s journey to deliver Ellie to scientists in a group called Fireflies, who are trying to develop a vaccine against the disease.
The Last of Us, which is considered one of the best serial adaptations ever made from a play and even one of the best series of the year, manages to establish a connection with the audience with its narrative, which is formed by returning to the past of its characters and with its cinematographically successful scenes. That’s why, the series tells the story of a world worth saving, despite the chaotic and dark atmosphere surrounding the long oases of the USA. Born into a world full of quarantine zones and swarming with savage people, Ellie’s response to Joel when she tries to save the world reveals this humane side of The Last of Us: “The world is a place worth saving.”
The Last of Us, which we have seen to be very faithful to the scenes from the game in the episodes published so far, has managed to be remembered as one of the best series adapted from video games, and perhaps even the best. One of the successes of The Last of Us produced by HBO has already been approved for a second season. In addition to Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, the cast of the series includes Shannon Woodward, Gabriel Luna, Merle Dandridge, Isabelle Crawford, Stephen Henderson, Neil Druckmann, Janine Davis, Joel Stillerman, Russell Friend and Garrett Lerner.
Taking the audience to an invaded world, The Last of Us transforms a video game where survival and leveling up are the only goals, into a story layered with the struggle for life that Joel and Ellie establish with a father-daughter relationship. Maybe this is one of the reasons why the whole world loves the series so much: the beauty of being able to set out with someone for a world that worth saving no matter what.
