The Last of Us is currently one of the most-watched shows on TV and is making an early case to be the best show of 2023. The adaptation of Naughty Dog’s incredible 2013 PlayStation game has far exceeded our expectations for an adaptation, with even ardent fans agreeing that the many alterations it makes to the story are improvements on what we got.
But it could all have been so different. The original plan was to adapt The Last of Us into a movie, though crowbarring the story down into two hours would have meant leaving many of the game’s best moments on the cutting room floor and likely have cranked up the action in the hopes of blockbuster success.
Franchise mainstay Jeffrey Pierce agrees. Pierce provided Tommy’s voice and performance capture in the game and recently appeared in the show as Perry. In an interview with EW, he discussed the failed movie and why it didn’t work out:
“As good as it was, it was never gonna be a great movie. In a two-hour runtime, how are you gonna tell 14, 17 hours of story? Then I think that there was some conversation about it maybe being an animation motion-capture movie series at some point, and that seemed like a good idea, but we’ve been down that road.”
We’re very happy with what we got, especially as showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have paid tribute to the game’s cast by weaving them into this story. Pierce also says he knew he wouldn’t be cast as Tommy in the show, but was desperate to play some role in it:
“I knew that Tommy was not gonna be something that I was gonna play in this go round, but I emailed [Druckmann] early on and said, ‘Look, man. If there’s anything that I can do to help support this story, if there’s something that I can come in and create that’s different from Tommy or that stands in the back and carries a f**king spear, I’ll be there in a heartbeat because I wanna support this thing that we’ve been a part of for so long.”
Upcoming episodes will also see the original Joel and Ellie actors, Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, making an appearance as new characters. With The Last of Us now confirmed for a second season that’ll tackle the much more ambitious (and controversial!) The Last of Us Part II, we’re hoping they continue this tradition with that game’s excellent cast.
The Last of Us airs Sundays on HBO.