The Last of Us TV show’s co-creator claims it’s ‘the greatest story ever told in video games’

The co-creator and co-writer of the upcoming TV adaptation of The Last of Us has claimed its source material is the greatest ever story in a video game.

In an interview with Empire, Craig Mazin made the claim that no other game has ever bettered The Last of Us when it comes to its plot.

Mazin, who also created the HBO series Chernobyl, said: “It’s an open-and-shut case: this is the greatest story that has ever been told in video games.”

Mazin went on to explain that, in his opinion, one of the reasons for this is that its protagonists are just normal people rather than larger-than-life characters.

“They didn’t shoot anything out of their eyeballs,” he explained. “They were just people. And that, in and of itself, is remarkably rare in games.

“The fact that they kept it so grounded, and really made you feel – I had never experienced anything like it, and I’ve been playing video games since 1977.”

The second trailer for The Last of Us was shown earlier this month, giving players a look at how the show recreates environments from the game.

The show, which stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as its lead characters, will premiere on January 15, 2023 on HBO Max, and a day later on Sky in the UK.

Further reading

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Last week a Vulture TV critic tweeted then deleted her thoughts on the show, reportedly stating: “It took five minutes for The Last of Us to win me over entirely.”

The Last of Us is the first television series from PlayStation Productions, a studio formed by Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt its original game properties for film and TV.