Overall, it looks like the producers of The Last of Us have done a good job of turning Alberta, Canada into a post-apocalyptic nightmare, with some impressive one-to-one shots from the game. I have to say, this trailer also gave me more confidence about Bella Ramsay as Ellie – she seems to be hitting the right balance between wise-beyond-her-years seriousness and the occasional bit of youthful irreverence. As for those cameos, we see a wrung-out looking Ashley Johnson holding up a newborn baby, which seems to heavily imply Johnson will be playing Ellie’s previously-unseen mother Anna. Baker doesn’t get quite such a poetic role, as he’s glimpsed as part of the villainous David’s posse. Per IMDB, Baker is only in one episode of the show, while Johnson is in three. So, expect Baker to eat it fairly quickly, while Johnson will likely appear in several flashbacks. Haven’t been keeping up with The Last of Us HBO series? The show is being headed up by Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and stars Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsay as Ellie. Here’s the series’ official description… “The Last of Us series takes place 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse the U.S. and depend on each other for survival. Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian, Wonder Woman 1984) and Bella Ramsey (HBO’s His Dark Materials and Game of Thrones) will star as Joel and Ellie. Also joining the cast are Gabriel Luna (True Detective) as Joel’s younger brother Tommy, Merle Dandridge (The Last of Us video games, The Flight Attendant) as resistance leader Marlene; and Anna Torv (Fringe) as Tess, a smuggler and fellow hardened survivor. The series will guest star Nico Parker (The Third Day) as Sarah, Joel’s 14-year old daughter; Murray Bartlett (The White Lotus) and Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation) as Frank and Bill, two post-pandemic survivalists living alone in their own isolated town; Storm Reid (Euphoria) as Riley, an orphan in Boston; and Jeffrey Pierce (The Last of Us video games) as Perry, a rebel in a quarantine zone. Lamar Johnson guest stars as Henry and Keivonn Woodard as Sam, brothers in Kansas City hiding from a revolutionary movement seeking vengeance. Graham Greene guest stars as Marlon and Elaine Miles as Florence, a married couple surviving alone in the wilderness of post-apocalyptic Wyoming.” The Last of Us series will be available via HBO and HBO Max on January 15, 2023.
