Spoilers THE LAST OF US (TV Show) - SPOILERS (for all mediums)

[Raziel]

15 hours ago, L_W_P said:

Episode 3 is an all timer. Brilliant from all involved.

Re: "1 season per game"

I wonder if season 2 is going to be Joel and Ellie between TLOU and TLOU2 and then season 3 is the Abbie arc. VERY interested to see how far they deviate (if at all) from that story given the huge backlash over the game.

If they change anything from the game, Fuck HBO for the showrunners for being cowards and caving to high-value manbabies.

[NoFistsJustFlips]

Im thinking (if this keeps getting renewed), season 2 will be the fallout of game one that mostly got glossed over / the flashback treatment. Then game two could almost be broken up into 3 separate seasons based on the three acts. Season 3 would be act one  and ends on that big death. Season 4 could end on the first encounter where Abby lets her go. Season 5 could end with the second encounter where Ellie lets her go. Then if its still going in Season 6, game three will be out to adapt.

You'd get 3 seasons before the big death and that wouldn't feel rushed or too soon whereas 3 or 4 episodes into season2 is wayyyy too soon.

[Casey]

A season per game is perfectly fine if they keep up this pacing.

They're already roughly halfway through the game and this Friday is episode 5. And that's without touching the Left Behind DLC/American Dreams graphic novel, which we know is coming since Storm Reid has been shown in trailers and cast as Riley.

Splitting Part 2 up into multiple seasons and having an entire season that is completely "original" is probably a bad idea, IMO. Just give S2 an extended episode count, like 12 instead of 9 or 10, and we'll be fine. There would have to be A LOT of addition to the story to make S3/4/5 into 8 or 9 episodes. Stretching out the story of the second game just because maybe HBO will want to keep a ratings hit is terrible and that never ends well for anyone. 

[EVA]

HBO head Casey Bloys was on The Watch podcast last week, and he all but confirmed that they’ve decided on 3 seasons. Said that’s what Craig Mazin wants to do and he usually listens to his creators.

[Brandon Bones]

https://winteriscoming.net/2023/02/05/the-last-us-episode-5-will-air-hbo-early-friday-not-sunday/
 

Neato!  Early episode on Friday!

[NoFistsJustFlips]

6 hours ago, Casey said:

A season per game is perfectly fine if they keep up this pacing.

If they stick to that, and also stick to Druckman saying the show will never speed ahead of the source materials, guess pencil season 3 in for 2027? Game 3 is in the works now. We'll be lucky if it releases by 2025 or 2026.

The second game has 10x more material than the first game had. And they left a lot of meat on the bone that could be fleshed out in a show. Joel dying in S2 E1 or E2 is going to be some bullshit too.

[Lawful Metal]

1 hour ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

If they stick to that, and also stick to Druckman saying the show will never speed ahead of the source materials, guess pencil season 3 in for 2027? Game 3 is in the works now. We'll be lucky if it releases by 2025 or 2026.

The second game has 10x more material than the first game had. And they left a lot of meat on the bone that could be fleshed out in a show. Joel dying in S2 E1 or E2 is going to be some bullshit too.

I can’t see them killing off Joel since he’s like the star of the show. Do we really want the just Bella Ramsey show? 

It’d be like if they killed off Sean Bean the first season of game of thrones
 

[NoFistsJustFlips]

The joke is not lost on me lol, but killing one of 15 main characters is apples and oranges to killing one of 2 main characters. At the end of game 1 there's basically only 3 people left. And Tommy is a background character at best. GOT had all of The Starks, The Lannisters, etc. Killing one person of a family isn't the same as killing one of a duo. But I digress.

[Casey]

Are you arguing that they should change the core story of Part 2? That game and the story it tells hardly works if you don’t brutally murder him for what he did in the first game.

[Lawful Metal]

1 hour ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

The joke is not lost on me lol, but killing one of 15 main characters is apples and oranges to killing one of 2 main characters. At the end of game 1 there's basically only 3 people left. And Tommy is a background character at best. GOT had all of The Starks, The Lannisters, etc. Killing one person of a family isn't the same as killing one of a duo. But I digress.

Agreed. Due to the time skip I think you can fill in the blanks using some of the flashbacks from part 2, and build up to the big moment in the season 2 finale. Might deviant from the game but I trust Mazin. 

[NoFistsJustFlips]

2 hours ago, Casey said:

Are you arguing that they should change the core story of Part 2? That game and the story it tells hardly works if you don’t brutally murder him for what he did in the first game.

No not at all. Sorry that wasn't clear. I'm just advocating for using season 2 to fill in the gaps between the end of game 1 and Joel's death. His death needs to happen for the sake of the story. I'm just in the camp that thinks doing it in ep 1 or 2 of the second season is a bit too soon for TV. I trust this team to flesh out the rift between Ellie & Joel that was largely only alluded to in the beginning of game 2, and maybe even show her journey back to the hospital to discover the truth for herself.

There's no rush is my point. We can do some world building and flesh out the things that were in between game 1 & 2 and only shown in brief flashbacks. Other wise we're gonna have a 5 year wait between season 2 & season 3. Druckman already said they won't let the show surpass the game timeline.

[Casey]

Well, predictably, this episode towards the end absolutely destroyed me. Especially knowing how this particular event shapes Ellie going forward.

Goddamnit, man.

[Brandon Bones]

10 hours ago, Casey said:

Well, predictably, this episode towards the end absolutely destroyed me. Especially knowing how this particular event shapes Ellie going forward.

Goddamnit, man.

It’s so impressive how condensing a narrative in the case of this show is never reductive.  The fear being that whatever you combine or jettison from the original text will somehow take all the meat off the bone.  Yet TLOU never loses it any of its heft.  
 

I could see a scenario where all the performances are still the same greatness but a haphazard adaptation spoils or at the very least makes it lesser.  So far, not the case.  Brandon Bones will remember that.
 

I will keep this critique in my back pocket though.  I never played the game.  But I did watch a pretty spiffy fan edit 2 years ago that cut out as much of the game portion as possible.  Which is how I fell in love with all of it.

Much of that particular experience was bordering on self flagellation in how horrific and painful (cathartic) it could be.  Which made TLOU seem more niche than it probably is (considering it WAS a launch title for the PS3). A mainstream audience will only have so much tolerance for that.  Glenn’s death on TWD certainly damaged that show and having all 9 episodes of this show being akin to that would probably be a mistake.  Save it for the home stretch.  
 

Bonus points for people who are familiar.  They still manage to find ways to surprise.  The sink hole caught me completely off guard.  
 

 

[Craig H]

Hey, how can we make this horrible moment from the game even worse and more gut wrenching?

Lets make Sam deaf.

This series is the equivalent of burning down someone’s house and then pissing on the ashes.

[Curt McGirt]

The more I read of this thread the less I want to dig in and watch the show. Jesus, guys. 

[Craig H]

The only thing I will say is that the twist with setting it in KC instead of Pittsburgh and giving it the backstory that KC was the worst run FEDRA QZ with FEDRA locking all of the infected underground was pretty good.

[NoFistsJustFlips]

Another excellent episode.

I wasn't really feeling Shauna from Yellowjackets' group. I think the intention was to give Henry more depth by making these real people he accosted. But instead, at least for me, it was a miss. Fedra are the bad guys. Then Shauna's group overtakes them. That should make them good guys right? Well they showed her group reveling in killing the Fedra soldiers to an uncomfortable degree. Dragging dead bodies with their vehicles. Killing all the cooperators in cold blood. They certainly weren't the good guys. I think they were shooting for shades of grey kind of thing, but it just came across muddy to me.

That being said I thought they handled Henry & Sam really well. Had just as much emotional weight. More even, with Ellie thinking she could cure Sam with her blood. I would have ended the episode with Henry's death and fade to black to add even more emotional weight. Save the grave site thing for opening episode 6. But that's just me I guess.

Bloater looked badass. Little gymnast runner was cool. The swarm coming out of sink hole was fun. We got an appearance by Ish in drawing form. Overall good stuff. Love this show.

[Casey]

Kathleen is a little glimpse of what’s to come for Ellie in the future, Craig Mazin said this on the podcast. What happens to someone when they’re consumed with vengeance, that sort of thing.

I don’t think they were going for a shades of grey thing with the resistance, either. They were pretty explicit about what usually happens when a group overthrows another, they become just like their oppressors and usually worse.

Shades of grey would be Henry, in all honesty.

[Craig H]

Also, I’ve always loved Melanie Lynskey in about every role she’s ever played. I’m bummed that this is it for her, but she also has Yellowjackets going on so that’s a pretty big time commitment.

[J.T.]

This fucking show, I swear.....

[Casey]

Bella Ramsey is under the impression that after visiting the writer’s room for S2 that the second season will follow the game’s story, like this season, and doesn’t think there’s “much need to fill in the gaps”.

[StuntmanCrowley]

......Fuck man.

[NoFistsJustFlips]

I trust Druckman & Mazin to do their thing. If that's what they think is best for the show I'll gladly watch. I just don't see how that jives with what Druckman said about not surpassing the source material like Game of Thrones did. Unless we should be expect a long break after Season 2 has aired? A quick Google search says Part 3 is expected out in mid 2025-ish.

[Casey]

I wouldn’t even expect S2 until late, late next year anyway (if not 2025). Euphoria and House of the Dragon are both going to have long lulls in between seasons, this show is going to be no different. It’s just how it is now, especially with these shows casting incredibly in demand talent.

[EVA]

Part 3 isn’t in development, as far as we know. Druckman just convened the writer’s room for “a new game” last summer and hasn’t given any indication it’s TLOU-related. Standard development time on big budget AAA game is like 5 or 6 years these days, so if it is Part 3, you’re looking at 2027 at the earliest. If it isn’t…check back in the 2030’s.

You may be thinking of the TLOU: Factions multilayer game that was originally supposed to ship alongside Part 2 but has grown into its own game, and should be out at some point in the next two years. But that will have a separate storyline from the mainline TLOU. So maybe some material for a spin-off show.