The Last Of Us Fans Will Have To Wait A While For HBO’s Series

If you were hoping to watch a live-action version of Joel and Ellie fight their way through hordes of fungal zombies in the near future, it looks like you’re going to have to be patient for a bit longer. Or a lot longer, probably. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Casey Bloys, HBO’s Chief Content Officer, clarified some details surrounding the upcoming live-action “The Last of Us” adaptation’s launch date.

We know the TV show, which is based on developer Naughty Dog’s video game series, is in the works. We also know that Bella Ramsey (“Game of Thrones,” “The Worst Witch”) and Pedro Pascal (also “Game of Thrones,” “The Mandalorian”) will be bringing the lead duo to life on the screen. Fans got their first brief glimpse of what the pair will look like in September 2021, though only from the back — which, admittedly, kind of fits given the over-the-shoulder third-person perspective camera angles often used while playing the games.

Now HBO has finally revealed a rough release date for the anticipated series, though it isn’t getting into specifics yet.

When asked in the interview if “The Last of Us” would be ready in 2022 or possibly not until 2023, Bloys said the show is “shooting right now in Canada. We haven’t announced an air date yet. But it’s not 2022. They’re still shooting in Calgary.”

On the plus side, this confirms the filming of Joel and Ellie’s trek through a post-apocalyptic fungus-infected US has indeed begun and is ongoing. If nothing else, the show’s first season — which is said to follow the events of the first game, with some possible plot deviations — is practically a lock.

The flipside of this is, of course, that it won’t be ready in 2022. However, in a separate interview with Deadline, Bloys indicated the HBO series may premiere next year, stating, “It’s not going to air in 2022 — they are still shooting in Canada. I imagine you will see it in ’23.” That leaves some room for ambiguity, so it’s possible the network hasn’t firmly set a 2023 premiere date.

Drawn out anticipation while waiting for a new show to kick off can be rough, but at least it’s arguably better than waiting two years for a follow-up season.