The Last of Us has a larger budget than most of Game of Thrones’ seasons

The live-action adaptation of The Last of Us, to be released in a little over a week, has quickly become one of the most awaited releases for the year, and according to Neil Druckmann himself, it aims to be “the best, most authentic game adaptation.” For that purpose, it seems like they’ve spared no expense, making the budget for the show’s first season (which debuts with an hour and a half long episode) incredibly bloated.

To give you an idea of the magnitude of the money invested on the series, the first season will retell the events of the original game, and it’s bigger than the first five seasons of Game of Thrones. There’s no confirmation of an official number, but the New Yorker estimates it’s over the 100 million dollar mark.

The best video game adaptation ever?

The people behind the show have said time and time again that they’ve stayed faithful to the source material, which means that millions of fans of the game around the world will be able to enjoy their favorite moments on the small screen. But their goal is also to pull in audiences that not only are unfamiliar with the franchise, but the video game medium in general. HBO’s ambition with this series is staggering, as demonstrated by the fact that they’ve chosen to put the series in their highest position available, where other shows like The House of the Dragon and White Lotus have been before.

To make things possible, the studio joined forces with Craig Mazin, who’s behind another of HBO’s biggest series: Chernobyl. Neil Druckmann, co-president of Naughty Dog and creator of the franchise alongside Bruce Straley, is also part of the production team. Both of them have confirmed that they’re sticking to the source material, but that while the story and characters will be faithful they have taken some liberties with the material to better fit it to the TV format. Amongst them will be a decrease to the violence shown in the game, in an effort to make viewers connect more with Joel instead of simply seeing him as a cold blooded killer.

Source | The New Yorker