The Last of Us gets a release date and an official poster

It’s no secret that HBO is adapting the ever-popular game The Last of Us for the screen, and production now has a release date! Dropping on January 15, 2023, the small-screen adaptation is slated to be a smash hit. Niel Druckman and Craig Mazin have teamed up to bring this project to life. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey are stepping in to bring these two lead characters to life, and fans of the game couldn’t be more excited. 

The official synopsis for the upcoming release reads as follows: Joel and Ellie, a pair connected through the harshness of the world they live in, are forced to endure brutal circumstances and ruthless killers on a trek across post-pandemic America.

In anticipation of the release of The Last of Us, HBO dropped a new promotional poster today. The image depicts Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Joel (Pedro Pascal) standing in front of a devastated city with overgrown plant life. Like the game, the show is setting this story in a world that is currently overrun by a zombie apocalypse. More than this though, word on the street is that the show will do a deep dive into the idea of humanity, human relationships, and the evil that comes from extreme situations (like an apocalypse).

In the game version of The Last of Us Part II, Ellie is an out and proud lesbian. Nowhere in the official trailer does it show that Ellie in the screen adaptation is gay, but Craig Mazin declared and promised on Twitter that the character would be brought to life with her queerness intact.

The Last of Us will contain nine episodes and Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, the folks that voiced Ellie and Joel in the game, are rumored to have cameos in the HBO adaptation. 

---

The Last of Us will premiere on Sunday, January 15 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and will be available to stream in 4K on HBO Max. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all queer stuff!