 So it was just announced a couple of days ago that HBO is adapting this popular video game series into a TV series. Now for those of you unfamiliar with the game it's an action adventure survivor horror game. So it's four genres all mashed together from Naughty Dog about humans that are transformed into vicious cannibalistic creatures called the infected. And I'm not much of a gamer but I think both of you are Alon, Vince. Yeah for sure. So let me know if I missed anything important here in the in the premise. But basically in this post-apocalyptic world we focus on a man named Joel escorting a younger female character named Ellie across the United States. And he sort of becomes a father figure for her right? Yeah that's after his own daughter passed away. That's right. So it's even more emotional for him. And that's one of the big things with this game. It's not just a great game but the story is fantastic right? I mean you can watch the cut scenes for this game and it's the caliber of an HBO series. Yeah and the voice acting in the game is spot on. And if you like the writing in the game the good news is that they're actually bringing the writer and co-director from the game Neil Druckmann to co-produce and co-write the series with Craig Mason. Now did either of you watch the HBO limited series Chernobyl? No. No but I did want to check it out. Yeah same here. I haven't seen the series but I've heard nothing but great things. I heard that after Game of Thrones that was satisfying to have something good afterward. That was don't worry HBO still can make good content. And also from what I understand Chernobyl is an incredibly bleak and dark show which fits the last of us right? Fits the tone of that game. So you've got a great writer. You've got the writer from the original video game so they get shaping up to be a pretty awesome adaptation. So it's going to cover the events of the original game plus there is the potential for additional content from the last of us to the sequel which is finally coming out this May. Now are you guys excited for this adaptation? No doubt for me. I can't wait. Yeah I mean you're bringing my hopes up with these talented individuals. Yeah normally we hear something get announced and the first thing we do is we check out who's writing it, who's directing it, who's making it and a lot of times we're disappointed. But sometimes it feels like the network or the production company just decides you know what let's make this good. Let's get a great writer. Let's get the person who made the original series to come on and make an awesome show. Now any particular things you want to see out of this show. I mean I haven't played the game so I don't know if there's certain things where you say oh that's got to be in the show for this to be a faithful adaptation. It'd be a great show. I can't really think of anything specific but one thing I do think is would be cool. So last of us part one, Ellie's a little kid, part two we come back and she's much older. So I would be interested in seeing this kind of time lapse or time jump in the show as well. I'd like to see it take place over a long period of time. If we're lucky I hope they come out to multiple seasons. If it catches on well. When did the first game come out? I think it was almost 10 years ago right? Yeah five to ten years at least at least five. Any preferences on who they cast in this show? Dream casting for Joel or Ellie? Well I'm not going to say Ellen Page for Ellie. So if you're unfamiliar in the in the original game the character Ellie looks suspiciously like Ellen Page and she was actually unhappy about that right? She was like I hadn't really given them permission to do that so it's not very cool and there was another game at the same time or around the same time that was based on her appearance and she voiced the character. Yeah and she did the motion capture and everything. Right. Yeah kind of a competing title around the same time. Yeah so not Ellen Page and she's probably also aged out of the role at this point. I would say for Joel I don't know why this was the first actor that popped into my head but what's the name of the guy from Dredd? Carl Urban. Oh. He's in Dredd. Have you seen the boys on Amazon? Yes. Yeah I feel I don't know why I feel like he would fit the Joel character. I think he could. Yeah it's a good choice. All right they should bring me on to this show. Neil Druckmann, Craig Maison and Gil from One Take. Okay last question. Do you want this to be a straight adaptation where they follow the events of the game closely or would you rather see them stray? I would rather see them stray because the game was already done so well. Let it be its own universe. We can have something a little different or maybe it can be the same but they're focusing on different parts we didn't see in the game. Or maybe like Walking Dead where I mean this would be the only similarity I'd want between this show and Walking Dead but where it follows it pretty faithfully but strays here and there so it appeals to people that haven't played the game and it appeals to people who have played it where there's still some surprises in store for them. Well I certainly I don't want them to change any like the core parts of the story but there you know there's things here and there in the game that I don't necessarily need to see replicated exactly the same in the show. Right. We're like when you die and then you redo the level over and over. Every time he heals we don't need to see him wrapping his arm with the whatever it's called the wrap. Bandage? Bandage. Which I know all too well because right before we recorded this I stubbed my pinky tail so it's bandaged up pretty good. Sorry about that. Yeah it's because I was getting orange news for Vince so. All right well any final thoughts on The Last of Us. Oh by the way they were for years talking about turning this into a movie and at one point Macy Williams played Arias Stark in Game of Thrones was supposed to portray Ellie but I think she also has probably aged out of the role at this point because in the first game Ellie was I think 14 years old. Yeah. Yeah So do you think a TV series is a better fit than a movie would have been? I mean how large in scope is the game? I think it needs a series. I don't think you could tell the whole story in a in a movie to be honest and I think you can dive in deeper on these characters. Right. And especially on the different types of zombies or you know that creatures. Creatures whatever you want to call them. The infected. The infected yes. I think Vince brought up something that I was going to say which is this in this game you know it's not that original in terms of oh there's an infection people are zombies it really is about the character development. Right. So I don't feel like you can necessarily fit all that in one movie. I mean and even if you can I'd rather see it spread out over time in a series. Like one thing was the beginning of that game was so like intense and like I don't know you just felt for the characters you felt for Ellie being alone and trying to find her way out of the house and ends up with Joel with Joel. Yeah I haven't seen much of the game but what struck me about the game was the fact that when I saw the cut scenes they were shockingly emotional and well done for a video game. I mean from the writing to the acting so it seems like this is a game which is ripe for an adaptation and I know people keep asking have we broken the video game curse yet because every movie adaptation of a video game has been terrible Sonic up until Detective Pikachu got pretty good reviews and Sonic is getting pretty good reviews. Well is Detective Pikachu really a video game movie. He's not just Pikachu. Well he's detective. I think in Japan he was a detective in one of the video games. Oh okay so it is a video game movie then. Yeah and also I would say even though Castlevania is not a movie it's a TV show but the line is so blurred these days and that show is excellent. Yeah. So I think the curse is broken and I think this Last of Us series is set up for success and this is going to take that broken curse and completely obliterated. I hope so. So it's over. Now we can make room for other video game adaptations. So Naughty Dog made Last of Us. Didn't they also make Crash Bandicoot. Yeah. I want to see that. And they did Uncharted right. Yeah Uncharted would be great. Oh yeah that sounds well that one's not. Yeah we're gonna have a good feelings about this one. Yeah so that's coming from Rubin Fletcher who created a Zombieland. Great. Love Zombieland but he also made Venom and a few other things that weren't great. It's also being written by I forget their names but they were writers on Men in Black International and yeah I'm not feeling great about Uncharted. So anyway any final thoughts on Last of Us. The last word on Last of Us. Well I love the game. I have high hopes for the second one and if there's that person involved in the game is also going to be involved in the movie. Neil Druckmann. Neil Druckmann. Right. I've got I've got hope for this one. I just can't wait you know. All right that's the first time on any episode of One Take where I've seen a glimmer of hope in a one's eyes. So that's great.