Naughty Dog’s ‘The Last of Us’ Team Reflects on the Decade-Long Legacy and Their Contribution to the HBO Show

HBO’s The Last of Us has officially ended and the fans are already looking forward to Season 2. The major success of this show shouldn’t be surprising, as it is the recreation of the action-adventure game that won Game of the Year in 2013.

It’s hard to believe that The Last of Us game came around a decade ago. Despite being such an old game, it still remains an absolute fan favorite. Recently, the people who worked on the original game reflected on the past ten years of this series and their contribution to it.

Naughty Dog’s boss was nervous about the HBO adaptation

Neil Druckmann, the mastermind of The Last of Us, was actually nervous about creating the video game adaptation. He shared, “The people I was most nervous about liking the show were Naughty Dogs. People that have dedicated big chunks of their lives to bring this game to life.”

The Naughty Dog co-president then shared how important Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, who played Joel and Ellie in the game, were to him. So it was special to have them in the HBO adaptation. This was also the reason he wanted them to play the roles of James and Anna respectively on the show.

Troy Baker liked the challenge of playing James on HBO’s The Last of Us

Baker then shared how he enjoyed the opportunity to play a character like James “that had some meat on it.” But the next challenge for the actor was transitioning from shooting for the game to shooting for the HBO series.

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“It was a challenge to see these scenes and sets that were originally literally a gray wooden box with 64 cameras around us on a sound stage to now built from the ground up, with meticulous detail. It was absolutely surreal,” said Troy Baker.

Ashley Johnson wanted people to like the video game adaptation

Ashley Johnson was amazed to think that she’s been part of this project for over a decade. Further, Druckmann claimed it was poetic and cyclical that Ashley brought Ellie to life on both platforms. But the actress was nervous about playing Anna on the show.

The actress shared her reasons for the nervousness, “I just want it to be good. I wanted to be good, and I want people to be able to feel all of the feelings.” However, what blew her away was how Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal never played the game, yet their portrayal was similar to the original.

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Both Ashley and Troy hope that fans don’t compare the game and series but enjoyed both for the masterpiece they are. It seems their fans reciprocated those feelings, as they loved the series as much as the game.