History Series / TheLastOfUs2023

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The first episode does a lot to make the viewer think that [[DecoyProtagonist Sarah is one of the main characters,]] but since she barely shows up in the trailers it's fairly obvious that her (physical) role in the story is very small. The same goes for Tess, who barely shows up in the trailers and is dead by the end of the second episode.

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The first episode does a lot to make the viewer think that [[DecoyProtagonist Sarah is one of the main characters,]] but since she barely shows up in the trailers it's fairly obvious that her (physical) role in the story is very small.

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The first episode does a lot to make the viewer think that [[DecoyProtagonist Sarah is one of the main characters,]] but since she barely shows up in the trailers it's fairly obvious that her (physical) role in the story is fairly small.

** FEDRA is explictly compared to the Nazis and are carrying out massive purges of those people living outside the QZs. The FEDRA in the games is never implied to have done these kind of massacres and while ruthless, is more incompetent and TheRemnant than PuttingOnTheReich.

* AdaptationalVillainy: [[spoiler:The Fireflies, while getting AdaptationalHeroism for the most past, do get this too thanks to one crucial change from the game. In the game, Ellie is unconscious after almost drowning and is immediately taken in for surgery by the Fireflies, which while obliviously ruthless, can be seen as an efficient NecessaryEvil action to get the cure. In the show's telling, however, after being taken in by the Fireflies, Ellie (off-screen) actually wakes up before Joel and was reunited with Marlene, who told her that she was going into surgery — while also purposely avoiding telling Ellie that said surgery will result in her death. This change makes Marlene and the Fireflies decidedly crueller by directly giving Ellie false hope and security, unlike the game where Ellie was simply unconscious throughout the whole thing.]]

** [[spoiler:The Fireflies in the original game are AmbiguouslyEvil, mostly owing to the uncertainty over whether their plan to extract a cure from Ellie would even work. Here, their plan is given more detail and their chances of success are more certain, which pushes their portrayal more into being WellIntentionedExtremists. [[PlayedWith Then again,]] the Fireflies do get some AdaptationalVillainy as well, as unlike in the game, Ellie had woken up before surgery and was comforted and lulled into a false sense of security by Marlene, who neglected to tell her surgery would be fatal.]]

* ArtisticTitle: The title sequence has macro shots of fungus growing in a frenetic and aggressive way, eventually forming images of the United States, an agonised human face and finally the silhouettes of Joel and Ellie.

** Just the thought of a Clicker being in the area is enough to make hardened survivors like Joel and Tess nervous, as they are savagely infected that are extremely violent and very hard to kill.

* ArtisticTitle: The title sequence has macro shots of fungus growing in a frenetic and aggressive way.

* ShoutOut: In the first game, Ellie finds an arcade cabinet of a ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' parody called "The Turning". In the show this is changed to an ''actual'' cabinet of ''VideoGame/MortalKombatII'', with Ellie even stating Mileena as her favorite character.

** In the opening scene, Dr Schoenheiss describes the possibility of a viral pandemic originating in ''UsefulNotes/{{Madagascar}}'' and being spread by plane travel to the US within a matter of weeks. This is likely a sly reference to VideoGame/{{Pandemic}}, where Madagascar is [[MemeticMutation infamously]] difficult to infect, leading to a [[LuckBasedMission much higher chance of winning]] if you start there.

* ArtisticLicensePharmacology: Both Neuman in episode one and Ratna in episode two state there is no cure for a fungal pandemic. Technically, there are currently four main classes of antifungal drugs; polyenes, azoles, allylamines and echinocandins. The first antifungal, amphotericin B deoxycholate, was introduced in 1958, ten years prior to Neuman's interview. That said, there's still no approved ''vaccine'' in real life for fungi that most commonly affect humans, never mind cordyceps. Testing hadn't even reach human trials yet at the time of the series' release, so it's unrealistic for the Fireflies to claim that they can formulate their own vaccine when all the properly funded [[https://www.nature.com/articles/s41541-021-00294-8 research]] stopped 20 years prior.

* ExactWords: When Ellie first questions Joel about the scar on his head in Episode 3, he says that someone shot at him and missed. Episode 9 reveals [[spoiler: that he left out the fact that [[DrivenToSuicide he was the one shooting at himself]].]]

The series premiered on Creator/{{HBO}} on January 15, 2023. On January 27, 2023, [[https://deadline.com/2023/01/the-last-of-us-renewed-season-2-hbo-1235242464/ the network confirmed that the show would be renewed for a second season]], which will partially adapt ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUsPartII'', with [[https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/the-last-of-us-finale-ending-explained-interview Druckmann and Mazin planning to spread that game's storyline out over multiple seasons.]]

'''Previews:''' [[https://youtu.be/rBRRDpQ0yc0 Teaser]]. [[https://youtu.be/uLtkt8BonwM Official Trailer]].

''The Last of Us'' is a post-apocalyptic drama series based upon the [[Creator/SonyInteractiveEntertainment PlayStation]] [[VideoGame/TheLastOfUs video game of the same name]] created by Creator/NaughtyDog. It was developed for television for Creator/{{HBO}} by Creator/CraigMazin (''Series/{{Chernobyl}}'') and Neil Druckmann (writer and director of the original game).

The series premiered on January 15, 2023. On January 27, 2023, [[https://deadline.com/2023/01/the-last-of-us-renewed-season-2-hbo-1235242464/ the network confirmed that the show would be renewed for a second season]], which will partially adapt ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUsPartII'', with [[https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/the-last-of-us-finale-ending-explained-interview Druckmann and Mazin planning to spread that game's storyline out over multiple seasons.]]

''The Last of Us'' is a post-apocalyptic drama series based upon the [[Creator/SonyInteractiveEntertainment PlayStation]] [[VideoGame/TheLastOfUs video game of the same name]] created by Creator/NaughtyDog. It was developed for television by Creator/CraigMazin (''Series/{{Chernobyl}}'') and Neil Druckmann (writer and director of the original game). The series premiered on Creator/{{HBO}} beginning on January 15, 2023. On January 27, 2023, [[https://deadline.com/2023/01/the-last-of-us-renewed-season-2-hbo-1235242464/ the network confirmed that the show would be renewed for a second season]], which will partially adapt ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUsPartII'', with [[https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/the-last-of-us-finale-ending-explained-interview Druckmann and Mazin planning to spread that game's storyline out over multiple seasons.]]

* CompanyCrossReferences: In a nod to [[{{VideoGame/Uncharted}} another Naughty Dog franchise]], Tess's lighter is a replica of [[VideoGame/Uncharted4AThiefsEnd Sam Drake's.]] Similarly, Ellie's white shirt with red sleeves resembles one worn by teenage Nathan Drake.

** In the opening scene, Dr Schoenheiss describes the possibility of a viral pandemic originating in UsefulNotes/{{Madagascar}} and being spread by plane travel to the US within a matter of weeks. This is likely a sly reference to VideoGame/{{Pandemic}}, where Madagascar is [[MemeticMutation infamously]] difficult to infect, leading to a [[LuckBasedMission much higher chance of winning]] if you start there.

** In [[Recap/TheLastOfUs2023S1E1WhenYoureLostInTheDarkness the first episode]] Tess explains away the bruises on her face (given to her by Robert's goons) to Joel by claiming she got jumped by a couple of teenagers. Later she tells him the truth:
-->'''Tess''': C'mon, you know these guys were born after the outbreak. Never learned how to argue, they just start swinging. Fuckin' nineteen-year-old pieces of shit.

** [[spoiler:The Fireflies in the original game are AmbiguouslyEvil, mostly owing to the uncertainty over whether their plan to extract a cure from Ellie would even work. Here, their plan is given more detail and their chances of success are more certain, which pushes their portrayal more into being WellIntentionedExtremists. [[PlayedWith Then again,]] the Fireflies do get some AdaptationalVillainy as well, as unlike in the game Ellie had woken up before surgery and was comforted and lulled into a false sense of security by Marlene who neglected to tell her surgery would be fatal.]]

** Almost nothing in the third episode is from the game. Well over two-thirds of the episode is dedicated to Bill and Frank's love story. Their relationship was certainly alluded to in the game but you could miss it if you weren't paying attention, and Frank's also dead by the time Joel and Ellie get there, having hanged himself. Even the small part of the episode focusing on Joel and Ellie is just them hiking out to the suburbs and getting supplies and weapons. There are a few things lifted from the game like Ellie playing a video game and stating that she has a friend from school who liked it. This section of the game is wandering around a town on a FetchQuest for a battery that also serves as the last tutorial (mostly for explosives) before the game takes the training wheels off. This works in the game because you’re actively involved but wouldn’t have translated well to an hour of television.
* AdaptationalVillainy: [[spoiler: The Fireflies, while getting AdaptationalHeroism for the most past, do get this too thanks to one crucial change from the game. In the game Ellie is unconscious after almost drowning and is immediately taken in for surgery by the Fireflies, which while obliviously ruthless can be seen as an efficient NecessaryEvil action to get the cure. In the show’s telling, however, after being taken in by the Fireflies Ellie (off-screen) actually wakes up before Joel and was reunited with Marlene who told her that she was going into surgery — while also purposely avoiding telling Ellie that said surgery will result in her death. This change makes Marlene and the Fireflies decidedly crueller by directly giving Ellie false hope and security, unlike the game where Ellie was simply unconscious throughout the whole thing.]]

** Henry was a muscly and reasonably competent survivor in the game, and he could take on infected and bandits same as Joel and Ellie. In the show, he’s a more of a weedy NonActionGuy who seeks Joel’s help — precisely due to the fact the latter can do what he can’t.
** Joel himself averts it for the most part, but he does gets this in the university segment. In the game he fights and kills a dozen bandits before getting surprised by another one barging through a door and during the struggle falls off a balcony and onto some rebar [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice which impales him]], forcing Joel to have fight his way out with Ellie while wounded. In the show’s version Joel only fights one bandit just as he and Ellie were about to escape on horseback and the bandit stabs Joel with a broken bat during the subsequent melee and strangulation; unlike the game the wound immediately debilitates Joel and there’s no big brutal and dire fight for survival.

** In Episode 1, [[spoiler: Joel's daughter Sarah dies from this after being shot by a soldier who was ordered to execute her and Joel to prevent the spread.]]
** In Episode 3, [[spoiler: Bill is hit in the side while trying to fight off intruders and Frank saves him and cauterizes his wounds.]]
** In Episode 6, [[spoiler: Joel himself gets one when he gets stabbed in the belly with a broken baseball bat by a Raider attacking him and slowly passes out from the blood loss and pain. He spends the next episode unwell and in pain, while Ellie nurses him.]]
** In Episode 9, [[spoiler: Marlene gets one courtesy of Joel, who shoots her in the stomach while he's trying to rescue Ellie from the Firefly hospital. Not that she has much time to agonize before Joel serves her the second course: a BoomHeadshot.]]

* AdaptationalVillainy: [[spoiler: The Fireflies, while getting AdaptationalHeroism for the most past, do get this due thanks to one crucial change from the game. In the game Ellie is unconscious after almost drowning and is immediately taken in for surgery by the Fireflies, which while obliviously ruthless can be seen as an efficient NecessaryEvil action to get the cure. In the show’s telling, however, after being taken in by the Fireflies Ellie (off-screen) actually wakes up before Joel and was reunited with Marlene who told her that she was going into surgery — while also purposely avoiding telling Ellie that said surgery will result in her death. This change makes Marlene and the Fireflies decidedly crueller by directly giving Ellie false hope and security, unlike the game where Ellie was simply unconscious throughout the whole thing.]]

* TragicOneShotCharacter: Episode 5 focuses on Henry and Sam, and ends with [[spoiler: Sam becoming infected and Henry killing himself because he knows this means everything he did to save him was all for nothing.]] [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] with Bill and Frank, the focus characters of Episode 3, who end up killing themselves at the end, though Bill himself notes that this isn't a tragic ending as they got to live a long, peaceful life together.

* RescueArc: Trying to rescue Tommy who is stuck somewhere in Wyoming is Joel's main objective. His mission gets overlayed with a MacGuffinEscortMission to bring Ellie to a lab where her immunity could be turned into a cure.

* PacifiedAdaptation: The original game is an actionized survival horror. The show gives much more focus to character drama and atmospheric horror over action spectacles, and heavily reduces the violence present. The first big action set piece doesn't even come until episode 5 and is the equivalent of the Pittsburg sniper section from the game.

* ArtisticLicensePharmacology: Both Neuman in episode one and Ratna in episode two state there is no cure for a fungal pandemic. This is unlikely, as there are currently four main classes of antifungal drugs; polyenes, azoles, allylamines and echinocandins. The first antifungal, amphotericin B deoxycholate, was introduced in 1958, ten years prior to Neuman's interview.
** Though the above is true, we still do not have an approved ''vaccine'' IRL for any of the fungi which most commonly affect humans, never mind cordyceps. In fact, we've only just reached the non-human primate testing phase within the last few years, so it is arguably unrealistic for the Fireflies to claim that they can formulate their own vaccine when all the well-funded/staffed/equipped [[https://www.nature.com/articles/s41541-021-00294-8 research]] stopped 20 years prior.