Even before its release,The Last of UsTV series was touted by critics to have finally broken the gaming adaptation curse, ultimately drawing ire online from the gaming community as both an uninformed and unoriginal take with calls for this kind of narrative to be dropped. In years prior, it was a common belief that most if not all video game adaptations, typically into movie formats, were always doomed to fail due to factors ranging from misunderstanding the source material to poor execution. So the early response toThe Last of UsTV series isn’t entirely out of the blue, but it is outdated nonetheless.
WhileThe Last of Uswas well-received by audiences when it aired, it was considered misleading by gamers to have characterized this series in particular as the first adaptation to succeed. Not least because this discredits the many other TV series and movies, both live-action and animated, that succeeded before it, but because it has the potential to poison the well of gaming adaptations overall, whereThe Last of Usis held uncritically as a benchmark. As a result, it could finally be time to push back on or even retire the talk ofcursed video game adaptationsand accept that gaming has already entered a multimedia golden era.
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The Context Surrounding The Last of Us' Adaptation
When it was first announced in 2014 thatThe Last of Uswould be receiving an adaptation, many fans were quite excited. However, it was announced during the slow build of gaming adaptations finally gaining traction across other media and led many to temper their expectations. This skepticism was well-placed, as the initial concept for a film was later stated to be stuck in development hell in 2016, followed by confirmation thatThe Last of Usfilmwas scrapped in 2018. Six years later then, when HBO announced it would adaptThe Last of Usas a TV series, it had already been a long and turbulent wait.
The need forThe Last of Usto succeed is rooted not just in its critical acclaim as a video game and among its fanbase, but in its difficult journey to its current point. This was likely compounded by Naughty Dog seeing its other flagship franchiseUnchartedhit the big screenjust prior in 2022 having also struggled during development only to receive a mixed response. Considering that gaming, TV, and film have only recently converged for mainstream audiences, coupled withUnchartedbeingThe Last of Us’closest comparison, it’s possible this was what drove critics to proclaim it to have broken the curse.
Earlier Adaptation Successes Before The Last of Us
But arguably, this curse has long since been broken with many different examples across both film and TV. For example,Pokemonstrayed from animated movies for alive-action adaptation ofDetective Pikachuwhich did well enough to prompt plans for a sequel, while Sega saw equal success withSonic The Hedgehogwhich not only received a sequel but has already teased a third movie yet to come. On the other hand, for live-action TV shows in particular,The Witcherhas been critically well-received as it enters into its third season, and it had even been released beforeThe Last of Us’announcement with HBO.
Some critics might point out, however, that many of these weren’t overwhelming success stories and that they, like many other recent adaptations, still suffer the same curse in a roundabout way.Detective Pikachu’ssequel has allegedly been scrapped, andThe Witcherhas endured controversiesranging from claims its writers don’t care about the source material, clashes with its lead actor Henry Cavill due to this, and even his departure requiring Liam Hemsworth to be brought in as his replacement. The talk about gaming adaptations being cursed then seems to be alive and well even in spite of a few success stories.
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The Last of Us Versus All Other Adaptations
However, this perspective onThe Last of Usis misplaced, as not only does it ignore the same issues the series could continue to face, such as the decision to replace spores with tendrils, but it overlooks the steadily growing number of successful animated gaming adaptations. Among these arestories likeArcane,Castlevania, andThe Cuphead Showwhich all demonstrate that creating gaming-inspired content needn’t be one-to-one and consequently build on the source material in its own unique ways that the games never could. PuttingThe Last of Uson a pedestal over all others could only further skew the audience’s opinions on adaptations.
The result of this could entrench ideas that gaming adaptations need to be faithful recreations of the games themselves, something which has already been demonstrated with fans' reactions to the missing spores inThe Last of Us. It could also set a standard that all adaptations must be of a certain genre, where the gritty realism and dubious morality ofThe Last of Usbecomes a standard that the likes of theupcomingSuper Mario Bros. Moviecan’t live up to. This is especially problematic after realizing that audiences have already seen a far too realistic live-action adaptation ofSuper Mariothat was not as successful within the gaming community.
This shouldn’t discredit the successThe Last of Ushas earned, as its faithful retelling alongside new creative choices could bring the game to people who aren’t familiar with the franchise and allow gamers, even Neil Druckmann himself, to share their interests with friends and family. But talks of gaming adaptations being cursed should end, as adaptations are being set up to fail even before they’re released, as is the case withBioShock’songoing film adaptationwoes. With all the different shows and movies based on games to date having long since broken this trend,The Last of Usshould be the last of these cursed adaptation narratives.
