HBO is bringing The Last of Us to the small screen and the upcoming series’ producer, Craig Mazin, has promised it will ‘enhance’ the original game and not ‘undo’ all the work Neil Druckman and Naughty Dog have achieved together with both games.

Mazin, who recently spoke on BBC Radio 5 Live’s Chernobyl Special (an excellent mini series he created you should check out, if you haven’t already) opened up on the upcoming project. He expressed his gratitude as a fan of the game for this opportunity and wanted to give fans his assurance the TV adaptation will not change the story or characters too drastically, or retell the same story. Mazin has already confirmed on Twitter that Ellie’s character will remain gay just like the videogame adaption.

“I think fans of something worry that, when the property gets licensed to someone else, those people don’t really understand it, or are going to change it.

“In this case, I’m doing it with the guy who did it (Neil Druckman), and so the changes that we’re making are designed to fill things out and expand; not to undo, but rather to enhance”.

We have seen some really good game-to-television adaptations recently with The Witcher and Castlevania on Netflix so fingers crossed Craig is a man of his word and the transitions continue to be favourable. With Breaking Bad director, Johan Renck being called in to direct the pilot, fan expectation is high.

As for what characters are appearing in the series, confirmed so far are Joel and Ellie, while Neil himself confirmed Riley, Tess, Marlene, Maria, and a redacted character who might be Abby from the controversial sequel. The series is expected to air late 2021 or in early 2022.