An intense and very promising teaser trailer has arrived for The Last of Us, the highly anticipated HBO Max series based on the acclaimed video game of the same name.
The post-apocalyptic series takes place twenty years after modern civilization has been destroyed by a mutated fungus that turns humans into infected creatures. Joel (Pedro Pascal, The Mandolorian), a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie (Bella Ramsey, Game of Thrones), a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.
The series also stars Nico Parker (The Third Day) as Sarah, Joel’s 14-year old daughter; Murray Bartlett (The White Lotus) and Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation) as Frank and Bill, two post-pandemic survivalists living alone in their own isolated town; Storm Reid (Euphoria) as Riley, an orphan in Boston; and Jeffrey Pierce (The Last of Us video games) as Perry, a rebel in a quarantine zone; Gabriel Luna (True Detective) as Joel’s younger brother and former soldier, Tommy; Merle Dandridge (The Flight Attendant) as resistance leader Marlene; and Anna Torv (Fringe) as Tess, a smuggler and fellow hardened survivor.
Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker, who voiced Ellie and Joel in The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part II video games, will appear in the series playing characters different from those they voiced in the games.
The series was created by Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin and The Last of Us games director/writer Neil Druckmann, who are also attached as executive producers and writers. Druckmann also serves as director, along with Kantemir Balagov (Beanpole), Jasmila Žbanić (Quo vadis, Aida?), Ali Abbasi (Border), Peter Hoar (Daredevil), Jeremy Webb (The Umbrella Academy), and Liza Johnson (Dead to Me).
The Last of Us will be streaming on HBO Max in the U.S. and Binge in Australia in 2023.