PARTS OF THE LAST OF US MOVIE TO BE 'QUITE DIFFERENT' TO THE GAME
"What are the most important beats that we can't lose? Start with those, and cut everything else out."

The Last of Us creative director Neil Druckmann has revealed that the movie adaptation will strip the game's narrative down to its essentials.

Speaking with MCVUK, Druckmann explained that there was, predictably, a lot of rewriting involved in morphing a 15-hour narrative experience into a two-hour one.
“I'm in the middle of it now, and it's been super difficult because there's so much that happens in The Last of Us – even just in the cinematics – that can't fit in a film," said Druckmann, "let alone all the gameplay in-between and dialogue.”
Druckmann explained that a lot of detail in the game has had to be chopped in order to maintain focus on its central duo, Joel and Ellie.
“It almost has this novel quality as far as how much content there is. And a film works really well when it's laser-focused, so the first part of it was like: well, what is this story really about? It's clearly about Joel and Ellie. What are the most important beats that we can't lose? Start with those, and cut everything else out.
“It's been really difficult to cut certain things out, but what I'm starting to get this is really focused narrative that's about these two characters. Some parts will be similar to the game and some parts will be quite different, but it's kind of interesting in helping me understand this other medium and its strengths compared to video games.”

The Last of Us will be brought to the big screen by Screen Gems, the studio behind the Resident Evil film franchise. The film counts Spider-Man and Evil Dead filmmaker Sam Raimi among its producers, but a director has yet to be officially brought on board. At the Screen Gems panel at this year's Comic-Con, Druckmann and Raimi revealed they've been in talks with Game of Thrones' Maisie Williams to star as Ellie.