When players control Joel as he carries Sarah, they aren’t simply watching him-they’re embodying him. The game has sold more than 17 million copies a sequel sold 4 million in its first week, a triumph for a title released at the height of Covid-19.Īdapting a game offers challenges very distinct from adapting, say, a novel or comic book. She is the one human immune to infection and therefore the key to ending the pandemic. And they’ve watched her die. The game goes on to follow Joel and Ellie, a young girl he’s tasked with protecting years later. As Joel, they’ve pulled Sarah from the wreck and carried her down alleys and streets as hordes of infected lurched closer. They’ve watched that neighbor’s house burn. They’ve padded around that quiet suburban home. But to the many fans of the PlayStation game of the same name released by Naughty Dog in 2013, the sequence is already iconic. This is the riveting opening to HBO’s new show, The Last of Us.

Then, following orders, he opens fire on them, killing Sarah. The pair finally reach a soldier, who asks if they are sick.

Joel carries her through a diner while the infected give chase. A plane falls out of the sky their car flips in the explosion. By the time the father and daughter pull into downtown Austin, the “infected” swarm the streets. As Joel and Sarah soon learn, billions of people have become infected by a parasitic fungus that turns them into vicious zombie-like husks who bite their prey to multiply.

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