HBO sets a January 2023 debut for The Last of Us series

By Blair Marnell Published November 2, 2022

Many years ago, film critic Roger Ebert infamously declared that “video games could not in principle be art.” Because of his position, gamers took Ebert to task and tried to explain that the medium had come a long way since the days of Atari. Ironically, the late Mr. Ebert died a few months before the release of The Last of Us in June 2013. Sony and developer Naughty Dog’s powerful fusion of gameplay and cinematic storytelling created an experience that rivals any film or TV show. This game is art. And early next year, the first-ever live-action adaptation of The Last of Us is coming to HBO.

To the edge of the universe and back. #TheLastOfUs premieres January 15 on @HBOMax. pic.twitter.com/TPJxOBZRBr

— The Last of Us (@TheLastofUsHBO) November 2, 2022

As you can see in the poster above, The Last of Us will premiere on Sunday, January 15, 2023, with new episodes following weekly on HBO and HBO Max. The Mandalorian‘s Pedro Pacal is starring in the series as Joel, a man haunted by personal loss in a post-apocalyptic America that was ravaged by a plague. Within both the game and the show, Joel is hired to escort a young girl named Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across the country. And because Ellie is immune to the plague, her safety may be vital to the survival of humanity itself.

Joel and Ellie in HBO's The Last of Us. — Image used with permission by copyright holder

There’s no shortage of action in the story, but one of the core parts of the game is the way that Joel and Ellie emotionally bond and rely on each other to survive the experience. That’s one of the main reasons why the story resonates so strongly with gamers. Neil Druckmann, the writer of the original game, teamed up with Chernobyl showrunner Craig Mazin for HBO’s The Last of Us; which should insure that the important aspects of the experience will remain intact within the show.

Gabriel Luna co-stars in the series as Joel’s brother, Tommy, with Merle Dandridge as Marlene, Anna Torv as Tess, Nico Parker as Sarah, Murray Bartlett as Frank, Nick Offerman as Bill, Storm Reid as Riley Abel, Jeffrey Pierce as Perry, Lamar Johnson as Henry, Keivonn Woodard as Sam, Graham Greene as Marlon, Elaine Miles as Florence, and Melanie Lynskey as Kathleen. Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, the original voice actors for Joel and Ellie, will also appear as different characters within the show.

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Blair Marnell has been an entertainment journalist for over 15 years. His bylines have appeared in Wizard Magazine, Geek…

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Ellie and Joel look sweetly at each other in The Last of Us.

HBO's sensation The Last of Us ended its first season with a bang. The show began airing in January, quickly becoming the most talked-about series on television and a worthy successor to HBO's now-iconic Sunday night lineup. Led by Game of Thrones breakouts Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsay, the show adapts Naughty Dog's universally beloved game about a smuggler escorting a teenager across a ravaged, postapocalyptic America. Haunted by infected mutants, government officials, and other lawless characters, the two form an intimate and powerful bond as they try to survive.

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The Last of Us season 2 may fix The Last of Us Part II’s biggest flaw

Joel looks at Ellie in The Last of Us Part 2.

The general consensus surrounding season 1 of The Last of Us seems to be that it was a resounding success. The HBO series’ first 9 episodes faithfully adapt the original Last of Us video game, which was first released 10 years ago in 2013. Now, Last of Us showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann are set to start working in earnest on the HBO show’s second season, which Druckmann has confirmed will adapt the events of 2020's The Last of Us Part II.

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