HBO has tagged Russian filmmaker Kantemir Balagov for the pilot of its upcoming adaptation of the wildly popular video game The Last of Us. In November 2020, HBO announced that they had officially ordered the long-awaited adaptation to series. The series will be helmed by Craig Mazin (Chernobyl), and Neil Druckmann, the creative director and writer for both the original The Last of Us game and its sequel. Back in June, it was announced that Chernobyl director Johan Renck would direct the pilot episode, but soon after Renck had to drop out of the project due to scheduling issues.
Now, HBO has announced that Russian filmmaker Kantemir Balagov will be sitting in the director's chair for the pilot episode of The Last of Us (via THR). Balagov's 2019 historical drama Beanpole was a critical darling - snagging Balagov the "Best Director" award under the 2019 Cannes Film Festival's Un Certain Regard program. Beanpole was also shortlisted for Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards.
The hiring of Balagov leads to the assumption that HBO's adaptation of the series aims to be just as harrowing and bleak as its source material. Directors like Balagov, who are known for complicated and dark character studies, aren't the usual choice for video game adaptations. Balagov's involvement, along with Mazin and Druckmann, points to HBO's aspirations to have The Last of Us rise above the typical game adaptation.
Source: THR