In March 2020, a television adaptation of Naughty Dog’s acclaimed gameThe Last of Uswas revealed to be in the planning stages at HBO. Expected to cover the events of this game and perhaps also some elements of its 2020 sequel, theTV series is set to have Neil Druckmann, the writer and co-director of the original 2013 game, as one of its co-showrunners; the show was clearly set to have high fidelity to the source material.
Upon being announced, many drew comparisons between this upcoming adaptation andAMC’s long-running post-apocalyptic horror,The Walking Dead. Both shows are set in a neo-western dystopian America overrun by a legion of zombies and are centered around traumatized people who are doing their best to survive and protect their surrogate families. ButThe Last of Usshouldn’t take its cues fromThe Walking Dead– instead, it should be inspired by the work of its other co-showrunner: Craig Mazin.
Related:The Last Of Us TV Series Should Take One Lesson From The Walking Dead
Despite having a varied career in Hollywood (including writing theScary MovieandHangoversequels), Mazin has recently found acclaim for creating and writing the 2019 miniseries,Chernobyl. Based on the historical nuclear disaster of the same name, the miniseries was a critical and commercial mega-success for HBO, winning the Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series and shooting Mazin’s profile sky-high. Now set to also pen thescreenplays for both theBorderlandsmovieand theuntitled sixth film in thePirates of the Caribbeanseries,The Last of Uswill be Mazin’s first big project post-Chernobyl, and the video game adaptation would do well to copy some elements from this historical drama. Here are some lessons thatThe Last of Usshould learn fromChernobyl.
Oppressive Atmosphere
If there’s one memorable aspect ofChernobyl, it’s the show’s ultra-oppressive atmosphere. Perfectly capturing the ‘boring dystopia' vibe of the USSR in the 80s, the show goes to great lengths to evoke to the audience just how horrid life can get in the face of an unnatural disaster.
From the garish greys of the color grading to the brutalism of the production design to the somber yet sordid soundtrack, Mazin’s show doubled down on the oppressive atmosphere and succeeded as a result.Part of the praise given toThe Last of Uswas how it evoked a similar atmosphere, making life in a post-zombie America seem like utter hell (whereasThe Walking Deadmade everything into a schlocky farce). For the adaptation to do well, it needs to capture a similar tone.
Startling Realism
Sometimes the facts are scary enough; no embellishment is needed. InChernobyl, Mazin doesn’t hide away from the disgusting and horrifying effects of radiation poisoning and bureaucratic ineptitude. In the miniseries, many, many people die and in a traumatic, nightmarish way. It’s almost too much to watch.
The Last of Usneeds to do something similar.The Walking Deadhas almost romanticized zombies and murder, turning it into a heroic feat;The Last of Usshould do the exact opposite. Show nightmarish sequences whencannibalistic ‘Cordyceps’ brutally murder and devour terrified citizens, and reveal just how hostile and tribalistic the survivors can get – don’t shy away from the startling realism.
The Last Of UsShould Be Evocative Rather than Representative
WhilstChernobylwas exhaustively researched, Mazin had the foresight to understand that a one-to-one representation of events wouldn’t be very engaging – instead, he took some liberties and made the miniseries evocative instead of representative. Multiple scientists were condensed into one single character and some meetings were conflated to save time: the focus is on sharing the overall thematic truth without getting bogged down in needless details and actualities.
SinceThe Last of Usis based on a video game, it would be easy to fall into the trap of just recreating the game beat-for-beat. Instead, Mazin and Druckmann should look atChernobyland realize some elements may need to be cut or conflated so that it works as a TV show. Which characters and side-plots should be cut? What small details can be changed for clarity? By being evocative rather than representative,The Last of Uswould work far better.
Perfect Length
At a time where some Netflix series become bloated messes due to inflated episode orders (this was famously a problem for the Marvel Netflix shows),Chernobylkept it short and sweet: just five episodes. With this semi-reduced length, the show ensured that every episode was narratively focused, filled with engaging events, and that needless additions weren’t included to pad out the runtime.
This is again somethingThe Last of Uswould do well to copy. There’s a reason viewership ofThe Walking Deadhas died down in recent years: audiences get sick of thesame old repetitive plot points being used to fill up episode orders. Instead, the upcoming show should keep the episode count low, making sure that there’s no dead space in the miniseries.
