In a very different mission to protect a slightly less cuddly boy, “The Mandalorian” star Pedro Pascal is a hardened survivor in the intense first look at the upcoming HBO series “The Last of Us.”
Based on Naughty Dog’s popular video game series of the same name, “The Last of Us” could be the rare adaptation to do justice to the source material, with game mastermind Neil Druckmann and creator of the award-winning “Thernobyl” Emmy Craig Mazin at the helm.
Set 20 years after the world has been ravaged by a fungal pandemic that turns infected people into zombie-like creatures, the series follows jaded Joel (Pascal), who is hired to smuggle Ellie (“Game of Thrones” alum Bella Ramsey), a 14-year-old. -year-old girl who could hold the key to finding a cure, outside an oppressive quarantine zone.
“What starts as a small job soon turns into a brutal and heartbreaking journey as the two must cross the US and depend on each other to survive,” reads the official synopsis.
The trailer offers a look at how the series faithfully depicts the video game’s post-apocalyptic world, including collapsing skyscrapers, desolate stretches of desert and infested wastelands, all set to singer Hank Williams’ “Alone and Forsaken.”
In the clip, Joel and Ellie face a host of threats, including the Clicks, a terrifying species of “infected” who have been heavily mutated by the virus that has spread throughout their bodies.
Other recognizable figures from the game appear in the trailer, including Joel’s fellow smuggler Tess (Fringe star Anna Torv) and Marlene, the leader of the resistance movement known as the Fireflies, played by Merle Dandridge, who also lent his voice to the character.
Following her Emmy-nominated turn on Showtime’s “Yellowjackets,” Melanie Lynskey stars in the series as the “ruthless leader of a revolutionary movement in Kansas City,” according to Entertainment Weekly.
Gabriel Luna, Nico Parker, Murray Bartlett and Nick Offerman also star alongside Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker, who voiced Ellie and Joel in the original game.
“The Last of Us” is coming to HBO in 2023. Watch the trailer below:
