From its opening moments, the HBO TV series adaptation of The Last of Us immediately attempts to reframe the events of the post-apocalyptic story in its own, more grounded way. Though based on the 2013 video game series by PlayStation Studio, Naughty Dog, it’s immediately clear that the show, written by Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and Neil Druckmann (creative director on The Last of Us video game), aims to focus more on the emotional drama and human conflict of the story.
The show opens in the year 1968, on a television talk show where two epidemiologists talk about how the hypothetical prospect of a pandemic might unfold in the future – a topic that is perhaps a bit too on the nose in 2023. For a show exploring these themes, however, it’s probably best to get this out of the way immediately.
