The Final of Us is off to a wondrously promising begin on HBO Max, enjoying up the unique sport’s cinematic components in an infinitely extra correct format, with simply sufficient nostalgia issue to maintain the trustworthy hooked.
Certainly, anybody who’s spent no less than an hour with the sport will be capable of pick some acquainted locales and set items as Joel, Ellie, and Tess set off on their lethal trek, however the presence of actors like Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, whereas infinitely welcome, additionally spotlight the present’s most obtrusive modifications from the video games; the recasting of the 2 leads.
The Final of Us sport featured Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson as leads Joel and Ellie, who offered each the voice and movement seize for the characters. Based on the forged listing, we’ll nonetheless see Baker and Johnson in smaller roles as soon as we get additional into the sequence, however because it stands, solely one of many unique actors discovered herself again in the identical footwear she stuffed again in 2013.
That actor is Merle Dandridge, who reprises her position as Marlene, the top of the Fireflies insurgent group, and is the one actor from the sport to take action.
Showrunner Craig Mazin, in an interview with Leisure Weekly, mirrored on the selection to carry Dandridge again for a similar position, noting her obvious means to age with the identical grace as her means to behave.
“She’s additionally eternally youthful. It’s 10 years later [after the first game’s debut] and she or he does have this glorious gravitas. So it was actually a query of, ‘Hey, if we simply wig her, I believe we’re there.’ That was a straightforward one.”
He would additionally go on to level out how the return of Baker and Johnson, who will as an alternative painting the characters of James and Anna, each of whom are additionally from the unique sport, is far more than mere fan service.
“It’s not nearly fan service. It’s a dramatic genetic connection between the sport and the present. They wanted to be there.”
We’ll must see how The Final of Us develops from right here; now that such a beloved story isn’t hampered down by the inconvenience of gameplay, seeing how Mazin decides to increase this world seems to be on the high of everybody’s to-do listing.
The Final of Us is accessible to stream on HBO Max, with new episodes releasing each Sunday.