This weekend, we got another look at HBO’s upcoming The Last of Us TV adaptation.
I am a big The Last of Us fan (something you may have noticed), and have watched this trailer multiple times already. Now, for your pleasure, I have pulled out some of the little details that you may have missed on a first watch.
As a quick recap before we dive on in, you can see this trailer below. Please note, after the video I will be discussing points that could be considered spoilers for Naughty Dog’s video game series. If you are keen to avoid these, this is your cue to head elsewhere.
The first things to bring to your attention are the previously-announced cameos from Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, who play Joel and Ellie in the original games.
This latest show trailer has given us a closer look at their characters and, rather touchingly, it is now confirmed that Johnson will be playing Ellie’s mother, Anna Williams.
Anna is a character we never see in the games, but thanks to in-game references, dialogue in Left Behind and the American Dreams comic series, we know a bit more about her character.
At some point she became friends with Marlene, and after the outbreak began she gave birth to Ellie. Anna died soon after Ellie was born, but before she passed Anna wrote a note to Ellie and entrusted Marlene to take care of her.
This note reads:
Ellie,
I’m going to share a secret with you, I’m not a big fan of kids and I hate babies. And yet… I’m staring at you and I’m just awestruck.
You’re not even a day old and holding you is the most incredible thing I’ve done in my life – a life that is about to get cut a little short.
Marlene will look after you. There’s no one in this world I trust more than her. When the time comes she’ll tell you all about me. Don’t give her too much of a hard time. Try not to be as stubborn as me.
I’m not going to lie, this is a pretty messed up world. It won’t be easy. The thing you always have to remember is that life is worth living! Find your purpose and fight for it.
I see so much strength in you. I know you’ll turn out to be the woman you’re meant to be.Forever… your loving mother
Anna
Make me proud, Ellie!
Troy Baker will play James, who is one of David’s men in The Last of Us. As a reminder, David runs a group of cannibalistic survivors.
In the game David, and by extension his gang, act as antagonists in The Last of Us’ Winter chapter. Below you can see Baker’s character to the left (as you look at the screen) of Scott Shepherd’s David, along with an image of his in-game counterpart.
According to IMDB, Baker will only appear in one episode of the upcoming show, while Johnson will appear in three.
As for David, here he is threatening Bella Ramsey’s Ellie with a meat cleaver – yes, I can tell I am going to dislike him as much in the show as I did in the game.
This trailer also gives us a closer, and quite emotional, look at the show’s focus on family.
Along with Pedro Pascal’s Joel and Bella Ramsey’s Ellie, we also see brothers Henry (played by Lamar Johnson) and Sam (played by Keivonn Woodard), couple Bill (played by Nick Offerman) and Frank (played by Murray Bartlett), as well as new characters Marlon and Florence, who are a “married couple surviving alone in the wilderness of post-apocalyptic Wyoming” (played by Graham Greene and Elaine Miles).
Below you can see these characters and, where relevant, their video game counterparts.
1 of 4 Caption Attribution Keivonn Woodard as Sam.
1 of 3 Caption Attribution Nick Offerman as Bill.
On the subject of family, this trailer also offers us a taste of how Joel and Ellie’s relationship will develop over the course of the series. At the start, Joel tells Ellie she is not family, she is “cargo”. However, as the trailer progresses the growing love between them is evident. “You might not be her father, but you were someone’s,” Henry comments.
Now, this wouldn’t be The Last of Us without us addressing the clicker in the room. Oh, and the bloater, runner and stalker. Yes, the four stages of the Cordyceps infection have now been shown off in their goosebump-inducing glory thanks to HBO’s latest spot.
We saw two stages of infection in HBO’s previous The Last of Us trailer – runners and clickers.
Runners are the first, and also weakest, stage of The Last of Us’ infected enemies. In the games, they can swarm players in large numbers, but their attacks are quite sluggish. The second stage of the series’ infection, however, creates enemies known as stalkers.