So, it’s a “Game Of Thrones” reunion of sorts over at HBO. Although the two actors never shared screentime on HBO’s hit fantasy series, both Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey—both of whom had smaller roles and were smaller stars at the time—have been cast in HBO’s adaptation of the wildly popular video game, “The Last Of Us.”
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If you’re anything like me, you might be wildly ill-equipped to write about “The Last Of Us,” but the gist is, it’s a 2013 post-apocalyptic action-adventure game from Sony Computer Entertainment. It’s also a survival horror game and centers on Joel; a man tasked with escorting a young girl, Ellie, across the United States while fighting off various hordes of nasties. Obviously, Pascal, hot off “The Mandalorian,” will play Joel, and young Ramsey, all of 17-years-old right now, will play Ellie. Here’s a more detailed synopsis from The Playlist’s Rafael Motamayor.
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The Last of Us” is set 20 years after civilization collapsed due to a virus taking over the world, and it centers on the relationship between a grizzled, no-nonsense smuggler named Joel, and Ellie, a teenager who may hold the key to a vaccine. As Joel is hired to smuggle Ellie out of a closed down city and across the U.S., the two embark on an incredibly brutal and bleak journey that looks at the darkest parts of humanity. And there’s also zombies and action and stuff.
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The creative team behind the series is fire too. Screenwriter/Producer Craig Mazin, also hot after creating HBO’s critically-acclaimed “Chernobyl” series, has been tapped to co-write and produce a series, and Neil Druckmann, the creative mind behind the video game, is co-writing with him.
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Aesthetically, it looks like they’re not going to pull any punches and have hired Russian director Kantemir Balagov to direct the adaptation. At just 29-years-old, Balagov has already directed two features. His last drama, “Beanpole,” was a harrowing, critically-acclaimed story that earned him a premiere slot at the Cannes Film Festival and earned him Cannes Best Director Award and FIPRESCI prizes for his efforts. This is seriously going to be one majorly anticipated show when it finally arrives.
How does HBO fit him in with his Lucasfilm TV schedule on “The Mandalorian? Deadline says, “he is expected to continue on the Star Wars series, where he is used sparingly because of the premise of his character, though The Last Of Us has him in the first position.”
Translation: Pascal wears a mask on “The Mandalorian,” and isn’t actually physically in the costume on set all the time, though that was apparently not true of season two, where Pascal insisted on being in costume as much as possible. We’ll see if they manage to work it out.
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