Star of HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation, Gabriel Luna, teases the show’s release date may come sooner rather than later. Luna is perhaps best known for roles in Terminator: Dark Fate, Wicked City, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., HBO’s True Detective, and Temple Grandin. Back in April, it was announced the actor would return to the network to star as Tommy Miller in HBO’s The Last of Us, based on Naughty Dog’s award-winning video game franchise. Co-president of Naughty Dog, Neil Druckmann, is executive producing and co-writing The Last of Us alongside Craig Mazin (Chernobyl).
In the world of The Last of Us, Tommy is a former member of the Fireflies and brother of protagonist Joel—the jaded smuggler tasked with escorting Ellie across a country ravaged by infected decades after the Cordyceps outbreak. In addition to Luna, The Last of Us will star Pedro Pascal as Joel, Bella Ramsey as Ellie, Nico Parker as Joel’s daughter, Sarah, Anna Torv as Tess, and Merle Dandridge, who reprises her role of Marlene from the games. Season 1 of the series will consist of 10 episodes and adapt those events from the first game. The Last of Us has a reported eight-figure budget per episode, making it one of the most expensive productions currently filming in Canada. Filming of the pilot wrapped in August and recently-leaked set photos/videos have shown Joel, Ellie, and Tess crossing a deserted city.
While production for The Last of Us is well underway (and anticipation is high), HBO has yet to commit to a release date beyond sometime next year. That being said, in an interview with ComicBook, Luna spoke about playing Tommy in The Last of Us adaptation before teasing when the show may be released. Read what he had to say below:
"Right now, my primary focus is The Last of Us,” said Luna. “So excited to complete my work there on season one and then we're going to have a really fun adventure there. I look forward to everyone having an opportunity to check that out whenever it may come out. I'm not in the scheduling department, but it'd be sooner than later.”
Luna went on to talk about his experience playing both The Last of Us (2013) and the more divisive, The Last of Us Part II (2020), calling both games beautiful works of art he was more than excited to step into. With game-creator Druckmann heavily involved in the series, HBO's The Last of Us should be a truly faithful video game adaptation that’s already been confirmed to include key moments from the first game. However, the show has already cast characters that weren’t in the game and is poised to flesh out both its characters and locations. Luna’s Tommy could play a much bigger role in the show than Tommy does in 2013's The Last of Us. For example, Joel and Tommy’s time as hunters and the latter’s as a Firefly is never actually shown.
The Last of Us is one of the most beloved games of the 21st century, which put a lot of pressure on The Last of Us Part II and perhaps even more pressure on the series. It seems safe to say that the show won’t be a shot-for-shot remake of the game and, like last year’s game, will take some interesting risks. Luna’s comments reinforce the feeling that production is going very well, and audiences will get to watch the series well before the end of 2022. Still, a plethora of factors could result in unforeseen delays.
Source: ComicBook