With this year’s The Last of Us Day, we finally got our first look at the highly anticipated TV adaptation of one of the most critically acclaimed games of all time. Starring Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian) and Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones), The Last of Us follows Joel (Pascal), a smuggler tasked with escorting a teenage girl, Ellie (Ramsey), across a post-apocalyptic United States.
Set to Hank Williams’ “Alone and Forsaken,” the series' first teaser trailer is filled with clues and Easter eggs for players of the games but sets the tone and story for newcomers. Opening with footage of what one can assume to be the quarantined zone of Boston, the trailer quickly sets up the tone and feel of the world post-outbreak. We see two men painting over a red marking, supervised by two guards. That sign is one belonging to The Fireflies, a rebel militia opposed to the quarantine zone authorities.
The next shot gives us our first look at Joel Miller, the series' protagonist. Fans will immediately recognize the broken watch given to him by his daughter Sarah (Nico Parker). The trailer quickly moves to a series of shots of Bella Ramsey’s Ellie. The first one has her looking at a wall that reads “When you’re lost in darkness,” followed by a shot of what we can presume to be Ellie with a chain around her ankle and finally one of her looking outside a window.
We're then treated to the first of many shots that seem to have been taken directly from the video game — one of Ellie, Joel, and Tess (Fringe’s Anna Torv) are hiding while being hunted. The next is more obscure and has little meaning to those who have not played the game, but we see two buildings in the middle of a storm, with one leaning against the other due to severe deterioration. The next shot is of a man sitting in front of multiple screens; while not confirmed, games of the fan could assume this to be Bill (Nick Offerman), a recluse who also happens to be friends with Joel.
We then finally get our first Clicker sound. Clickers are The Last of Us’ version of zombies, using sound to find their prey — and just like in the game, the chilling sounds make you catch your breath. Hiding from one of them, in a scene that looks straight from the video game, we get our first good up-close look at the trio of Joel, Ellie, and Tess together. The trailer continues with a series of quick scenes — one of Ellie and Joel walking across a bridge in the middle of winter, one of Joel in an abandoned place with cars, one of Ellie crying and looking at something unseen, and our first look at Marlene (Merle Dandridge reprising her role from the game).
The trailer also offers up confirmation that the show will go beyond the first game with a brief snapshot of Riley (Euphoria’s Storm Reid), who sits on a carousel with Ellie, a scene taken from The Last of Us: Left Behind DLC. The trailer follows with the first look at Sarah in Joel’s arms as they stand in the middle of a street, where someone on the ground gets up fast. Later in the trailer, there's another shot of Joel running with Sarah in his arm in a similar setting. For fans of the game, these two scenes, in particular, will bring emotions out as it is one of the most beloved scenes of the game.
The trailer then provides the first spoken words with a voice-over of Tess talking to Joel, telling him, "this is your chance, our best shot. To keep her alive, and you set everything right.” Paired with that voice-over, there are a lot of different teases, but we also have our first glimpses of Gabriel Luna as Tommy Miller, Offerman as Bill, and the confirmation of Melanie Lynskey joining the cast. Per TVLine, Lynskey will portray Kathleen, the ruthless leader of a revolutionary movement in Kansas City. From Joel beating a man on the ground to Ellie running and shooting a gun, there is so much to see in just a few shots.
The trailer then cuts to Joel holding Ellie’s bloody face in winter before cutting to the first shot, head-on, of a Clicker. Right after that, the trailer cuts to black before returning to a view of Ellie standing and looking forward. As Joel walks into the frame, Tess’s voice again says, “Save who you can save,” as Joel looks at Ellie. The trailer then ends with a wide shot of Ellie and Joel on a horse, traveling towards their destination as the logo for the series appears.
The best thing about this trailer is that it gives very little away, barely going into spoilers while also giving fans of the game so much to look at and overanalyze until the show’s release in 2023. It’s just enough to draw in new fans while also exciting the already established fan base, which has been waiting for this adaptation.
The Last of Us comes to HBO Max in 2023.