One of the most anticipated series of 2023, The Last of Us premieres this Sunday (15) on HBO and is in charge of adapting the game of the same name that became a global phenomenon. The stars Pedro Pascal (Narcos) and Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones) cast as the protagonist duo ignored a request from boss Craig Mazin to be allowed to star in the series.
Attraction showrunner Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) developed the adaptation of The Last of Us alongside original game creator Neil Druckmann. With the cast settled and the scripts finalized, before filming began, the boss made a simple request to the stars: not to play the game.
In a chat with journalists, of which the tangerine Mazin explained that he doesn’t want actors to become “obsessed” with recreating iconic video game characters. According to the showrunner, he wanted Pascal and Bella to do their own versions of Joel and Ellie.
Despite the request, the duo told the report that they couldn’t resist the temptation. Both played the original game, released for the PlayStation 3 console in 2013, with the aim of not only getting to know their characters, but also immersing themselves in the apocalyptic plot of The Last of Us universe.
Pedro Pascal with Joel in The Last of Us.
Disclosure/HBO
“Craig is an incredible writer and when I received the scripts without knowing the game I was blown away. I had never played before so the first thing that attracted me was already in the pages. These are incredible characters who find themselves in incredible circumstances in this apocalyptic world. That’s how it started for me, and that’s how it started for every actor to immediately discover something beautiful on the page,” explained Pascal.
“After [de ler], opened the doors to my understanding of this story and to understanding the context of the source material that applies to it. Its impact and its impact on industry and people. It’s about the relationships between people and reproducing the experience of the game itself. It is a world that keeps opening and deepening. With the game, I began to understand their influence and discovered this fascinating story told by Craig and Neil with an incredible spirit. [na série].”
For Bella, who became known worldwide as the brave Lyanna Mormont from Game of Thrones (20112019), The Last of Us series has Craig Mazin’s screenplay as a great asset. According to the 19yearold actress, the pages of text were even more valuable than the original game as she fell in love with Ellie and the universe of The Last of Us.
“I’m amazing scripts you know? It’s not often that you come across good stories like this. Normally it would have been great to just read and go to work, but I found myself looking at how many pages I had left. The scripts were so valuable to me that I had to sit down and go through everything again. I couldn’t get distracted. I had to be alone and just read them,” the protagonist added.
Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal
Disclosure/HBO
From games to TV
Since The Last of Us is an adaptation of a video game, the protagonists had to “settle” with the script and the original game to create their versions of Joel and Ellie. As such, acting and immersion in the narrative was something Pedro Pascal saw as crucial to acting on the series.
According to the actor, being able to speak to the original actors who voiced the characters in the game helped him a lot when it came to creating his own version of Joel. Pascal even compared the protagonist to other major pop culture figures who have come to life on television and cinema, such as SpiderMan and the Joker.
“We met the voice actors on the set of the show and I think we studied them both well. I felt like it was an important piece of the puzzle for us to understand where we were and to bring these characters into a physical understanding. [O jogo] It was a different kind of source material for me. [Joel] It’s not a historical character that I’ve studied or a character that’s been played by a lot of people, like SpiderMan or the Joker. There were special contributions from the game’s developers and voice actors, and that’s what it took me to make this adaptation,” concluded Pascal.
The first episode of The Last of Us airs this Sunday at 11 p.m. (Brasília time) on HBO. Watch the subtitled trailer below:
The last of us
subtitled trailer