Coming hot off the tails of The Last of Us Part I on PlayStation 5, the HBO adaption of the hit Playstation game has received its first trailer. The Last of Us is set to hit the network sometime in 2023 with Pedro Pascal (of The Mandalorian fame) and Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones) set to star.
For the uninitiated, The Last of Us follows a pair of survivors, Joel and Ellie, on a post-apocalyptic journey across America. The adaptation has been in the works for quite some time with Chernobyl's Craig Mazin and director of the game Neil Druckmann set to head up the series.
Now, as fans celebrate the annual Last of Us Day, a first look at the series has been revealed, including what could be one fairly significant deviation from the game's original story.
A New Character & Setting in HBO's The Last of Us
As revealed during HBO's The Last of Us trailer, Melanie Lynskey (known for her work on last year's Yellowjackets) has been added to the cast of the upcoming TV series.
EW unveiled that Lynskey will be taking on the role of Kathleen, a "ruthless leader of a revolutionary movement in Kansas City." Lynskey's character can be seen for a brief moment in the trailer, walking amongst a group of survivors. This group sounds awfully like the Hunters seen throughout the original game.
What's notable about the actress's casting is that Kansas City never actually appeared in The Last of Us on PS3, hinting that there could be some major changes coming to the HBO adaptation.
What Else Will Differ In Last of Us' Show?
Yes, the show's creators have teased that the series will "deviate greatly from the events [fans have] played previously,” this Kansas City detail is fairly significant when it comes to the story of The Last of Us. As fans of the franchise know, gamers have never visited KC in either the first or second game.
This small change could mean a number of different things with the most likely being that the Missouri metropolis could stand in for another stop on Joel and Ellie's cross-America journey.
Fans have speculated at Kansas City may possibly replace Pittsburgh in HBO's take on The Last of Us. As fans know, Pittsburgh takes up a sizable amount of TLOU's story, with Joel and Ellie taking on the rival Hunters gang, as well as teaming up with brothers Henry and Sam.
Geographically this could make sense, as from Pittsburgh the pair head to Jackson Mississippi. However, the journey from Boston (where the game starts out) to Kansas City is much longer than to Pittsburgh.
Another theory going around is that Kansas City could appear in flashbacks with audiences getting some of Joel's past filled in before he ever meets up with Ellie. Perhaps Pedro Pascal's leading man could butt heads with Lynskey's character in these flashback sequences, with the militia leader coming after Joel later down the line.
If this were to be the case, it could give a face to the Hunters who remain fairly nondescript in The Last of Us video game. If there is some sort of past there, meeting Lynskey's Kathleen again on this journey could give this story a recognizable antagonist, more so than was ever there before.
HBO's The Last of Us is set to debut sometime in 2023.