‘The Last of Us’ HBO Show to Be More Expensive Than ‘Game of Thrones’
The Last of Us was more than just a hugely popular video game, it was a testament to how deep and developed storytelling can be in the video game genre.
Since its release in 2013, the game has drawn more and more loyal fans for both a much-anticipated sequel and a TV adaptation that promises to be massive. Some fans may be reluctant to get too excited after Sony abandoned a movie adaptation for the game years ago, but the high-budget show has already started filming. With the jaw-dropping budget and star-studded cast, The Last of Us may prove to be the biggest epic TV series anyone’s seen yet.
‘The Last of Us’: from console to HBO
The 2013 game follows Joel as he escorts the teenage Ellie across the post-apocalyptic United States. In a typical trope for the genre, the stakes are high as Ellie’s blood offers humanity’s only chance of developing a cure for the deadly fungus that has devastated the world.
At face value, it may seem more or less like any spin on the old zombie story. The Last of Us though took brilliant animation, scriptwriting, and voice acting into a full multimedia experience to tell a heartwarming, gritty, interactive story. The game is action-packed but full of emotional moments, character development, and often painful choices.
Several movie adaptations were planned for The Last of Us over the years, but none of them ever got into production. According to Games Radar, the show has already started filming, so it’s finally starting to seem like fans will finally see Joel and Ellie on their TV screens.
The latest epic TV production
For The Last of Us, it certainly seems like HBO is provided the resources necessary to make the show much more spectacular than just another mediocre game adaptation. The show has been approved for one of the highest budgets of all time, at $10 million per episode according to Collider.
This would put the 10 episode season of The Last of Us at a total price tag of $100 million, compared to the $90 million HBO forked out for the final season of Game of Thrones. To most people, this may seem like an absurd amount of money, but the producers seem to be putting it to good work to replicate the unique ambiance of The Last of Us.
Their filming location in Alberta is a massive operation that takes 6 months to set up for 12 months of filming. Hundreds and hundreds of people will work to build sets and work on the project. While HBO is sparing no expense it seems, fans have seen some pretty epic TV in recent years, and it’ll be tough to top some of that spectacle.
How the show is shaping up
News from the set is scarce, but it currently seems that filming is to continue through June 2022. A release of late 2022 was originally planned, but it remains to be seen whether Covid-related delays to the production schedule will delay that date.
According to Rotten Tomatoes, the part of Joel will be played by Pedro Paschal the titular Mandalorian in the Disney+ series. Ellie will be played by Bella Ramsey from Game of Thrones. Fringe‘s Anna Torv will play Tess. Other casting rumors are trickling out slowly, but fans may have to wait until closer to the end of the show’s production to get much more news.
While they may not know everything about The Last of Us on HBO yet, fans certainly have a lot to get excited about knowing how large the scope of the show will be. There’s a lot of high-value production on TV these days and The Last of Us has the potential to be one of the greatest shows ever. At any rate, this is one that story that simply needed to be told in live-action one way or the other.
