The Last of Us HBO Show: Season 1 Adapts the First Game, But Will ‘Deviate Greatly’ in Some Episodes

The Last of Us on HBO will directly lift dialogue from the original game, says executive producer Neil Druckmann, but will see some episodes “deviate greatly” from the events we’ve played previously.The Last of Us is the first of several planned PlayStation adaptations into film and television, and with both Ellie and Joel’s roles cast, one of the biggest questions remains how closely will the HBO series adhere to the original’s story. Speaking to IGN during SXSW 2021, The Last of Us game director and show executive producer Neil Druckmann, spoke about his and showrunner Craig Mazin’s approach to adapting the acclaimed original game.

“We talked at length [that season 1 of the show is going to be [the first game],” Druckmann explained, noting that for him and Mazin, “the philosophical underpinnings of the story” were the essential thing to get right about the adaptation. “As far as the superficial things, like should [a character] wear the same plaid shirt or the same red shirt? They might or might not appear in it, that’s way less important to us than getting the core of who these people are and the core of their journey.”And while Druckmann could not, of course, reveal too much about the team’s exact plans for how the series will play out in comparison to the game, he did explain that viewers will certainly recognize some dialogue – and be surprised by large parts of episodes.

“Things sometimes stay pretty close. It’s funny to see my…