The first footage from HBO’s upcoming series adaptation of the popular video game franchise “The Last of Us” has been released. Although brief, the teaser gives viewers their first glimpse of Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as post-apocalyptic survivors Joel and Ellie, respectively. “Everyone I’ve cared for has either died or abandoned me,” Ellie says sarcastically in the teaser. “You have no idea what loss is,” Joel says coldly.
The video shows Joel and Ellie negotiating a snowy bridge, looking into a potentially hazardous fungus, fiddling with a sideview mirror, and generally trying to survive a pretty hopeless circumstance. Additionally, viewers get their first look at Nick Offerman in the role of Bill, who teams up with Joel and Ellie in the original video game in an uneasy alliance.
The teaser for “The Last of Us” acts as a surpise stinger for a longer sizzle reel that HBO Max released on Sunday afternoon. The video alternates between scenes from returning series like “Succession,” “His Dark Materials,” “Los Espookys,” and “Avenue 5” as well as brand-new glimpses at “The White Lotus’s” new season and the Weeknd’s “The Idol” series. The final show mentioned in the video is “The Last of Us.”
Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, co-presidents of Naughty Dog, the video game studio responsible for the original series, co-created and co-executively produced “The Last of Us.” Executive producers include Rose Lam, Carter Swan, Asad Qizilbash, Evan Wells, and Carolyn Strauss. Co-producing the show is Sony Pictures Television. Word Games, The Mighty Mint, Naughty Dog, and PlayStation Productions are among the producers.
The series also stars Gabriel Luna as Joel’s younger brother and former soldier, Tommy; Merle Dandridge as resistance leader Marlene; and Anna Torv as Tess, a smuggler and hardened survivor. Nico Parker plays Sarah, Joel’s 14-year-old daughter, and Murray Bartlett and Nick Offerman play Frank and Bill, two post-pandemic survivalists who live alone in their own isolated town. Riley, an orphan in Boston, is played by Storm Reid, and Perry, a rebel in a quarantine zone, is played by Jeffrey Pierce. Lamar Johnson plays Henry and Keivonn Woodard plays Sam, two brothers hiding in Kansas City from a revolutionary movement seeking vengeance. Graham Greene appears as Marlon, and Elaine Miles as Florence, a married couple surviving alone in the post-apocalyptic Wyoming wilderness.
Watch the trailer here: