Before HBO’s The Last Of Us, An Entirely Different Adaptation Was Proposed

This was a year after The Last of Us came out in 2013. It was a hot property, as the game was a critical and a commercial success for Naughty Dog and Sony. With Sony also owning and operating its own film studio, all the synergies were there for Sony to make a Last of Us film.

Neil Druckmann, who directed The Last of Us game, confirmed in 2014 that the movie would adapt the story of The Last of Us, as opposed to branching off in some other way. At the time, Druckmann said the movie would “take into account the unique properties of film,” but he stressed it was early days and the team hadn’t yet mapped out how it would condense the game’s story into a two-hour film. In 2015, Druckmann confirmed he had written a second draft of the movie’s script, which he said contained “pretty big changes” from the source material.

It was also at this time that Druckmann said a table read had already taken place with “a bunch of actors,” though he did not name any outright. Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams was said to be a frontrunner to play Ellie, and many people said that casting was perfect. Williams herself confirmed she met with Druckmann and Raimi about it, but remarked at the time that there was no script or director at that point. Williams, who was 17 at the time, also joked at the time that she hoped Sony would make the movie quickly because, “If they make it in 30 years, they can’t have a 40-year-old Ellie.” Kaitlyn Dever was also considered for the role of Ellie in the film, and, spoiler alert: Dever would go on to play Ellie’s adversary, Abby, in the HBO TV show.

Development Hell

Hollywood productions can take a lot of time to come together, and when the production process goes on for an extended period of time, that’s known as “Development Hell.” The Last of Us movie was yet another example of this unfortunate phenomenon.

In 2016, Druckmann said the movie hadn’t progressed for “over a year” at that point. “It kind of entered development hell like these things tend to do,” he said. The movie also never had a director signed on, nor was there a cast or a release date.

This wouldn’t be the last time a Naughty Dog film project was subject to development hell, as the Uncharted movie is a very infamous example of this, but that did eventually come together for release in 2022 after a decade of development.

The Last of Us “would have been awful” as a movie

Druckmann said in an interview with Sacred Symbols that movie executives told him to “make it bigger, make it more like World War Z,” and he pushed back against this. “Go make World War Z. Why make The Last of Us? The Last of Us is not that,” he said. Conversely, Druckmann said HBO boss Casey Bloys told him, “‘Do as much action as you need to, and no more. Do as much violence as you need to, and no more. Here, we sell drama.'” 

Druckmann said he got the opposite notes when The Last of Us was envisioned as a feature film. It’s not a stretch to imagine this is part of the reason why Naughty Dog opted for a TV show instead of a film, in addition to there being a more supportive and understanding team at HBO to produce and back the show.

Druckmann also said HBO approached the source material with “such reverence and artistry,” ensuring Naughty Dog would be involved in the process too. This is not always the case, of course, as the Baldur’s Gate TV series at HBO does not involve Larian Studios. Druckmann also mentioned that HBO was supportive of the many changes to the source material that Druckmann and writer/showrunner Craig Mazin made. 

Appearing on Logically Speaking in 2024, Druckmann said the movie version of The Last of Us “would have been awful.” He said, “It would have been one of those bad adaptations had we finished that one.” 

“You have two hours, max, and the feedback I got was, ‘This will lead it down a bad path,'” he added.

In a recent interview with GamesBeat, Druckmann said he changed his mind about how to approach such projects. Whereas in 2014 he said The Last of Us movie would be an adaptation of the game, in 2016, he said Naughty Dog had “evolved our feelings” about adaptations. 

“As time goes on, we are not excited by a direct adaptation of a story for a game into a movie,” Druckmann said. “We have told that story well, cinematically. The idea for The Last of Us film was to be a direct adaptation. I don’t want that movie to be made.”

Druckmann indeed got his wish, and that movie was never made. The TV series with HBO, meanwhile, premiered in January 2023, and its first season–starring Bella Ramsey as Ellie and Pedro Pascal as Joel–was a huge success in terms of critical reception and viewership numbers. A second season aired in 2025, and was similarly successful, though not quite to the same degree. A third–and potentially final–season is in the works now, but Druckmann dropped out to focus on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet and other projects at Naughty Dog (maybe The Last of Us 3?).