It’s no secret that The Last of Us showrunners Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin had initially intended for the HBO live-action adaptation to produce less violence and gore as compared to its video game counterpart — and for good reason. The showrunners believe there is a lack of potential for gore and violence being shown on the TV series, as opposed to Joel and Ellie simply getting through their journey together.
However, The Last of Us fans did note that the lack of action scenes of Joel and Ellie trying to run away from the Infected has lessened the higher stakes that were shown in the beginning of the season. Joel lost Sarah and Tess in the earlier episodes. Ellie lost Sam, her mother and her best friend/girlfriend. Showrunners Druckmann and Mazin once again respond to fans demanding more action for The Last of Us Season 2.
“Ultimately, we generally stressed the power of relationships and trying to find significance within moments of action,” Mazin told in a recent interview with Variety, “And so there may be less action than some people wanted because we couldn’t necessarily find significance for quite a bit of it, or [there was] concern that it would be repetitive. After all, you’re not playing it, you’re watching it.”
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While it’s natural for The Last of Us fans to demand more action scenes in a zombie-centered show, this is exactly the reason why the Naughty Dog storytelling of the game is much scarier than the average post-apocalyptic stories.
One of the many reasons why the lack of zombie actions works is the fact that the HBO series is trying to show why humans are the driving force of violence despite the virus that conquered the earth.
Joel and Ellie had encountered more danger in meeting ambushers and cannibalistic groups as opposed to the Infected they randomly ended up with along the way. It proved that humans, in their own way, are capable of dealing more damage and violence against their own race, compared to the virus they’re supposed to work to survive against.
In the meantime, you can catch up with all episodes of The Last of Us Season 1 currently available to stream on HBO Max.
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