Naughty Canine’s Neil Druckmann says HBO’s The Final of Us TV present “would be the finest, most genuine sport adaptation”.
In an interview with the New Yorker (thanks, Comicbook), Druckmann stated he hoped that the present will “put that video-game curse to mattress”, though screenwriter Craig Mazin acknowledged that it is “not the best bar on the planet” to develop into an ideal adaptation given some video games, like Murderer’s Creed, have “impenetrable” storylines.
“I like the power to wander, to do nothing, in Skyrim,” Mazin stated, earlier than including that “that isn’t translatable!” In contrast, nonetheless, he stated that “The Final of Us was all the time a narrative the place the story comes first”.
After acknowledging Naughty Canine’s “troubled” historical past of variations – together with the Uncharted movie which Druckmann says is “enjoyable” – Druckmann and Mazin mentioned how the present got here to be, with the latter reflecting that “watching an individual die must be a lot completely different than watching pixels die” and that the story needs to be the main target, not motion.
“Joel’s talent with evading bullets is the least essential factor,” Mazin stated. Which, by the best way, is the place video-game variations have gone incorrect so many occasions – they attempt to replicate the motion. It is simply the incorrect medium. That is that. That is this.”
The interview additionally particulars how the pair thought of “the toll Joel’s life would have had on him bodily”.
“So, he’s exhausting of listening to on one facet due to a gunshot. His knees harm each time he stands up,” Druckmann stated, with Mazin including: “I assume there is a tone the place Tom Cruise can do something. However I like my middle-aged folks middle-aged”.
As for the way Druckmann thinks followers will react to the present?
“I believe it can change issues,” Druckmann stated. “Generally variations have not labored as a result of the supply materials shouldn’t be sturdy sufficient. Generally they have not labored as a result of the folks making it don’t perceive the supply materials.” He additionally revealed that his subsequent mission might be “structured extra like a TV present”.
HBO’s TV adaptation of Naughty Canine’s sequence debuts subsequent month. Starring Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie, this adaptation kicks off fifteenth January within the US, which makes for a sixteenth January launch right here within the UK on Sky Atlantic.