The truth is that a few years ago a television series based on a video game would have been met with quite critical suspicion. And it would certainly find its audience among gamers, but it would probably be difficult to attract many others, especially from the older age group who are less or not at all connected with game consoles. The same thing would happen, of course, with a comic book series, which in 2023 may, on the contrary, find a budget almost comparable to a cinematic blockbuster.

However, back to video games and, in particular, to The Last of Us, the TV adaptation of which in recent weeks has monopolized interest, as well as laudatory comments from experts and non-specialists.

Thus, the HBO series sends us to an alternate reality where a mysterious fungus has turned most of the Earth’s population into bloodthirsty zombies by interfering with their minds. The result is apparently absolute chaos, which is only moderated in autocratically controlled – and militarized – controlled areas.

Under these circumstances, a tough but mentally wounded man (Pedro Pascal) undertakes to accompany a teenage girl (Bella Ramsay) on a journey that could prove to be life-saving for all of humanity.

Already bringing together in its dynamic family of talent from the greatest studios, HBO once again trusts Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin to “translate” the first-person video game world into a much broader view, with fully developed characters and indeed, at least to some extent , Scenery.

But above all, he instructed him to create an artistic ensemble, which, both in duration (most episodes are close to an hour and a half), and in aesthetics, there is nothing to envy the best films of the genre.

And that’s exactly what happens: from camera work that remains flawless, whether indoors or outdoors, to script and special effects that don’t suffer from the usual TV “poverty” due to lack of budget.

Many are quick to compare The Last of Us to similarly themed The Walking Dead, which also made a splash when it first came out early in the last decade. In fact, the two series are quite different from each other: the latter is more interested in the detailed introduction of various characters, as is often done on the small screen, while the former aims to take over the whole world.

What’s more, The Last of Us’ approach is much more refined and attention to detail. Not to mention his own zombies running around…

In any case, the executives of studios like HBO have now clearly realized that almost anything can be glossed over and presented as premium TV, even if the source material isn’t a real treasure trove.

In the end, due to the lack of original scripts that the entire industry suffers from, games are only part of the alternatives that will be rolled out.

The Last of Us is broadcast in our country through the Vodafone TV platform.