Pascal Says “The Last Of Us” Will Be Faithful To The Games

Last year Pedro Pascal was announced as the lead in an adaptation of Playstation’s hit The Last of Us for HBO and the response was nothing less than fantastic. Video Game translations have been a mixed back, with few major hits to point to, but enthusiasm for this project has just been building. Add to that the fact that the recently released Uncharted from Playstation Productions proved successful at the box office, and there is plenty of reason to hope the The Last of Us will get the cinematic treatment it deserves.

And all signs point to that certainly being the plan. During a recent interview with GQ, Pascal opened up about the filming of the show and his expectations, specifically how the showrunners are doing their best to remain faithful to the source material. He specifically commented that commenting that:

I haven’t any skill. I tried; you know. And then it was only a matter of minutes before I had to hand it over to my nephew. It really takes a specific kind of skill, and I don’t have it. I watched for as long as I was able to that day, and then I had to leave Florida. I found Joel so impressive – I found the whole of it such a visually impressive experience. And then I got worried that I would want to imitate too much, which I think could be right in some circumstances, and then a mistake in others. So, I just wanted to create a healthy distance, and for that to be more in the hands of [show co-writer] Craig Mazin and [game writer and show co-writer] Neil Druckmann. There’s a very, very creative way of honoring what’s important and also preserving what is iconic to the experience of the video game, and also [to include] things that you wouldn’t necessarily expect. And then directions that you would expect it to go, and it might not… they’re doing some really smart things, is all I can say. It’s similar to the way Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni treat The Mandalorian, in how [Mazin and Druckmann] are treating The Last of Us — it’s in good hands because they love it so much. Well, clearly Neil created the video game, but Craig loves it so much. So, it really is made for the people that love it. And there’s some very intense storytelling for people who might be less familiar.

One thing tat’s clear is that Sony and HBO are hoping that this show will reach critics in a way that Uncharted failed to. And given that The Last of Us is lauded most often for its thoughtful and intriguing story, rather than its gameplay, there seems to be a good chance that critics will take to it. The show is almost done filming, though there is still no timeline for when it might debut.