The history of video game adaptations in TV and movies is well-documented. Recent history is littered with terrible ideas, whitewashing, questionable decisions, and a Resident Evil movie line that went way longer than it should’ve. Studios have had a difficult time bringing certain properties to the small screen, and fans are quick to point out mistakes. While there have been some bright spots out there in the world such as with the Sonic The Hedgehog movies, fans want more quality adaptations to show that Hollywood can do right by gamers. That brings us to The Last of Us, which just had its first official teaser drop, and the reaction has been incredibly positive so far.
The footage of the teaser dropped on Monday, and when it did, the internet went into a frenzy as they tried to dissect everything they could to learn what they can. This led to some numbers dropping about the teaser, and the results are that millions watched it on multiple platforms.
As you can see, on Twitter alone, The Last of Us teaser got nearly 15 million views, and when combined with YouTube watches that balloons to 20 million. Why does this matter? Curiosity, as well as hope. HBO wants this series to be one of its next great franchises. Even if it only goes one or two seasons before the main story is fully told. As such, they need people to watch it from the first episode so that they can continue with it when the time comes. That won’t be easy if there’s no hype for it or desire to see the show.
The numbers for the teaser can bring hope that this might just be watched by millions, which HBO wants. For context, when The House of the Dragon debuted on HBO Max a little while back, it had 10 million for its opening episode, the biggest premiere in the history of the channel. While it’s unfair to think The Last of Us could do that much, if it got close to that, it would make HBO happy and likely instantly greenlight the second season.
Continuing with hope, one of the things that many fans noted was that the show very much looked like the game regarding key scenes and reveals. One of the people behind the show commented on that, and someone posted it online.
That should provide even more hope for those who want this adaptation to be great and a beacon for what video game adaptations can be when quality is the focus. Because if this is done right and is well-received, this will be the benchmark for future adaptations of video games, and that could lead to many great things in the future.
Source: Twitter
