HBO's 'The Last of Us' is a video game adaptation that's really good

This weekend, HBO and HBO Max will premiere the first episode of "The Last of Us," a post-apocalyptic thriller based on the popular video game. On Sunday, January 15, it will debut on HBO at 9:00 p.m. ET and stream in 4K on HBO Max. The series will have nine episodes in total and follows the plot of the 2013 game where a fungus outbreak turns half of the world's population into flesh-eating zombies - aka "clickers".

Starring "The Mandalorian" actor Pedro Pascal as Joel and "Game of Thrones" actress Bella Ramsey as Ellie, "The Last of Us" centers around these two characters who, at first, want nothing to do with each other. Joel and his confidante, Tess (played by Anna Torv), are tasked with getting Ellie out of the quarantine zone in Boston and across the United States. p>

"The Last of Us" is HBO's first foray into adapting a video game series. But you wouldn't know based on the quality. After so many failed video game adaptations, the series will likely come as a relief to many "Last of Us" fans. Admittedly, it was co-written by the game's creator, Neil Druckmann, so there was little room for it to fail in the first place. HBO's "The Last of Us" is Druckmann's love letter to the millions of loyal fans who help keep the decade-old franchise alive.

("The Last of Us" spoilers ahead.)

On the surface, "The Last of Us" may seem like another zombie survival story. However, unlike the gut-wrenching gore associated with the genre, the HBO series doesn't focus on dramatic, long-winded shootouts and cut-to-length undead shots. Instead, it focuses on the human relationships between uninfected people as their world grows more uncertain by the minute.

What makes this show so great, in our opinion, is the fact that viewers don't have to play the game to understand it. Although HBO's "The Last of Us" is very faithful to the game's timeline and Easter eggs are strewn everywhere, there are a few key differences that help the story speak to a wider audience.

For example, the game is set in 2033, while the show is set in 2023. This was done to help viewers "connect a little more," co-creator Craig Mazin said in a post. interview with CNET. "If I watch a show in 2023 and it's set in 2043, it's just a little less real. I thought it might be interesting to just say, 'Hey look, in this parallel universe, it's happening right now," Mazin added.

Another distinction we've noticed so far is the depth of the series with Joel's backstory. The video game's opening cinematic is only about 15 minutes long, while HBO's "The Last of Us" takes a longer approach.

The first episode begins with a flashback to 2003, when the first fungal outbreak occurred. In this scene, Joel appears as a less intense man, sleeping through his alarm and dealing with simple issues like forgetting to buy pancake mix. Additionally, Joel's daughter, Sarah (played by Nico Parker), gets plenty of airtime, with clips of her cooking scrambled eggs, fixing her dad's watch, and baking cookies with her neighbor from next to. These scenes are unique to the series and give viewers more time to get to know the father-daughter duo, which makes the events that follow all the more heartbreaking.