The Last of Us season 1 spoilers: Less violent than the games?

The premiere of The Last of Us season 1 on HBO is going to be one of the most anticipated events of early 2023 and for good reason. This show has a real opportunity to deliver one of the most compelling stories in gaming to the TV medium — we don’t think it has to concern itself with breaking some sort of “curse” when it comes to video-game adaptations. Instead, it should just deliver a good product in the end.

Because the mediums of television and video games are different, it shouldn’t be that big of a shock that they won’t line up with each other perfectly. Speaking in a new interview with Collider, executive producer and co-creator Neil Druckmann made it clear that one of the big changes coming up will be with the amount of violence you get a chance to see:

…One of the things that I loved hearing from [co-creator Craig Mazin] and HBO very early on was, ‘Let’s take out all the violence except for the very essential.’ That allowed the violence to have even more impact than in the game, because when you hold on showing the threat and you’re seeing people’s reaction to a threat, that makes it scarier. And when we do reveal the infected and the Clickers, you get to see what brought down humanity and why everyone is so scared.

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Ultimately, this all makes sense given when watching a show, you aren’t controlling someone and your emotional investment is not predicated on your own actions. There are some different mechanisms that are required here. The writing, plus the performances of Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal, are most likely going to be what matters the most in the end.

We really want this show to succeed a million times over. Also, it would just be nice to have an end product that is fundamentally different from anything we’ve had a chance to see on TV in quite some time.

Related – Remember to check out some other news when it comes to The Last of Us right now

Is there anything you especially want to see from The Last of Us season 1 moving forward?

Be sure to share right now in the comments! Once you do just that, be sure to come back for some other updates. (Photo: HBO.)