HBO’s hit series The Last of Us is based on a popular video game from Naughty Dog. Science fiction author Zach Chapman appreciates that the show is a faithful adaptation of one of his favorite games.
“The show is in many episodes a shot-for-shot remake of the game,” Chapman says in Episode 539 of the Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast. “The script is almost exactly the same, you just don’t get the gameplay.”
The Last of Us has a reputation as one of the best video game stories ever told. Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy host David Barr Kirtley thinks that reputation is well-deserved. “This is definitely a must-watch show,” he says. “It almost seems like a story that’s so good that someone had to write it sooner or later. It’s almost like it exists in the ether and was just waiting for somebody to instantiate it.”
The Last of Us is set in a post-apocalyptic America crawling with zombie-like “infected.” Horror author Theresa DeLucci says the show’s likable, well-drawn characters set it apart from other zombie stories. “Here’s a story where things are shitty, but also hopeful and loving and humorous and complicated, and not everybody you meet is going to be an absolute shitheel looking to screw you over,” she says. “You might make some friends, you might fall in love, you might find a family. And I think that’s what makes people like this show a lot and come back to it and not feel like it’s a Walking Dead retread.”
One of the show’s strongest episodes, “Long, Long Time,” explores a same-sex relationship as it develops over the course of 20 years. Fantasy author Erin Lindsey thinks that episode was the highlight of the show. “I would love to see more scriptwriters and networks take a risk on putting out episodes like that that are more about heart and more about people, and less about moving at breakneck speed from one slaughterfest to the next,” she says.
Listen to the complete interview with Zach Chapman, Theresa DeLucci, and Erin Lindsey in Episode 539 of Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy. And check out some highlights from the discussion below.
