HBO’s The Last of Us live-action TV adaptation aiming for 2023 release

Although it would admittedly be entirely forgivable if you’d forgotten about The Last of Us’ live-action TV adaptation given the sheer tsunami of other video game adaptations in the works right now, those that’d been hoping to see Sony’s acclaimed blockbuster brought to life on the small-to-mid-sized screen at some point this year will have to wait a little longer – HBO has now confirmed the series won’t be airing until next year at least.

It’s perhaps not a total shock given recent word on the project indicated filming in Alberta, Canada was still ongoing and would continue until July, but HBO chief content officer Casey Bloys has now made it official. “It’s not going to air in 2022,” he told Deadline, “they are still shooting in Canada. I imagine you will see it in ’23”.

Bloys also added that he’s seen some early episodes and was “very excited” about its progress. “Craig [Mazin, lead writer on the series] did Chernobyl for us, he is a fantastic writer and director. What I’ve seen looks amazing, so I’m excited for it, but it will not be in ’22.”

HBO officially greenlit Mazin’s The Last of Us TV adaptation for a full series at the end of 2020, and there’s been a steady dripfeed of information since then. February 2021, for instance, bought the news that Pedro Pascal had been cast as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie – with September giving us our first look at the actors in their roles – and the show’s officially announced cast list has continued to ballon as the months roll by.

Parks and Recreation’s Nick Offerman will star as Bill, while Jeffrey Pierce (who played Joel’s brother Tommy in the Last of Us video games) has been cast as quarantine zone rebel Perry, and Gabriel Luna is set to play Tommy. Nico Parker stars as Joel’s daughter Sarah, and Merle Dandridge reprises her video game role of Marlene, the leader of the Fireflies resistance.

Most recently, HBO revealed Euphoria’s Storm Reid would guest star in the role of Ellie’s one-time best friend Riley Abel.

The Last of Us’ first season – which sees Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann serving as director on some episodes and is said to “deviate greatly” from the game at times – is expected to run for ten episodes when it finally begins airing next year.