{"id":800,"date":"2025-05-23T13:26:06","date_gmt":"2025-05-23T12:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/studioinsider\/?p=800"},"modified":"2025-06-06T15:18:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T14:18:14","slug":"the-last-of-us-effect-how-to-turn-a-video-game-into-a-tv-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jusmedia.co.uk\/studioinsider\/2025\/05\/23\/the-last-of-us-effect-how-to-turn-a-video-game-into-a-tv-show\/","title":{"rendered":"The Last of Us effect: How to turn a video game into a TV show"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Last of Us TV series poster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Television adaptations of any media form has always been a source of controversy. With the likes of books, real life events and iconic figures being transformed onto the cinema and television screen, reviews are often mixed. More recently, video games have become the latest offering to be adapted for the screens. Though not an entirely new concept, for example the Resident Evil games were adapted into an entire film series alongside games such as Tomb Raider<\/em>, adaptations of these games are now becoming long form television series. It seems to be more of a trend with The Last of Us<\/em>, Arcane<\/em> and Fallout<\/em> all being developed in the past few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What happens during pre-production?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Before adapting, producers of the shows need to ensure that they are satisfying the fans of the game first and foremost. This is where their main audience will come from initially and so pleasing them is a large portion of the challenge. The shows usually need to stick with the original source material, staying as true as they can, while also adding new and exciting elements so that the exact same story is not just rehashed in a different format. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elizabeth Lowther, a major fan of The Last of Us <\/em>game series, talked to us about the changes the TV show made. \u201cIt\u2019s nice in a way, it’s something different. You wouldn\u2019t want to watch the exact same thing you\u2019ve just played word for word and scene for scene.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Last of Us<\/em> was originally greenlit as a film, though after being put into development purgatory in 2016, it was found that to do the storyline and pacing justice that it would work better as a television show with the first season covering the first game and the second game being covered by any subsequent seasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThe first season\u2019s storyline was great, it was pretty much the same as the game. <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

“There were only small changes but they made sense in the grand scheme of things. Season two was a little different, so far there\u2019s been loads of changes. Ones that don\u2019t really add anything or stuff that only people who\u2019ve played the game will notice have been missed out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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