The Last of Us’ TV Success Is Testament to Naughty Dog’s 15 Years of Growth
It’s like going back to 2013. The world is fascinated by The Last of Us. But what was once an exclusive obsession for PlayStation owners is now a broader phenomenon, with gamers and non-gamers alike fascinated by HBO’s critically acclaimed TV shows. At this point, with a Metacritic score of 84 and his season finale in sight, it’s safe to say that Naughty Dog’s game has been beautifully rendered on screen.
But just a year ago, the same couldn’t be said for another live-action project adapted from the studio’s production. His 2022 Uncharted movie starring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg was a critical misfit. Our own review was more positive than the majority, which contributed to a Metacritic score of just 45, but we wrote that it was “safe but practical”.
The chasm between these critical scores is more than what separates a bad movie from a good TV show. They also point to Naughty Dog’s growth and maturity as a storyteller. The studio has honed his craft over 15 years. An era that can be broadly described as the ‘Henning Age’ and the ‘Druckmann Age’.
The Uncharted movie draws from the Hennig era. In 2004, nearing the dawn of the PlayStation 3, Naughty Dog sought to explore new territory beyond the 3D platformer it was known for. Led by director Amy Hennig, the studio created her Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, an incredibly cinematic twist on the adventures typically associated with Lara Croft. Inspired by pulp magazines and Indiana Jones, his Uncharted had a romantic sense of adventure. Bright and refreshing even in the face of danger.
Hennig helmed three of Uncharted’s most successful games, each of which remains a favorite to this day. Filled with clever action sequences and beautiful environments, you’ll quickly discover the wonders of a globetrotting roller coaster ride. Its cast of characters are very well drawn, each with their own distinct tone. Nate embodies the adorable rogue, Sally the grizzled leader and Elena the tenacious reporter. But as robust as these characters are, these descriptions reveal the challenges in adapting his Uncharted for film.
Back then in the PlayStation 3 era, Uncharted characters were one-dimensional archetypes. A convincing archetype, absolutely, but still an archetype. Uncharted is an action-adventure video game, and interactivity, not character depth, was the most important factor, so that was perfectly fine. So it’s puzzling that the PS3 era was the water his Uncharted movies drank.
“
The result was a movie accompanied by a charming but generic Tom Holland in a Nathan Drake cosplay and his cookie-cutter grumpy mentor. – It didn’t help that their quest was a forgettable chain of inexplicably boring “greatest” Uncharted moments – but director Ruben Fleischer and the writing team, Inspired by the second half of the Naughty Dog timeline, the fate of the Uncharted movies could have been very different.
2013 was a big year for Naughty Dog. The release of The Last of Us marked the beginning of the “Druckmann Era”. A few years ago, after the release of Uncharted 2, the studio split him into two teams to focus on completely different projects. Amy Hennig continued to write and direct Uncharted, while co-director Bruce Stolley and co-writer Neil Druckmann began working on an all-new survival horror project. Like Uncharted, The Last of Us used film archetypes for its central characters, a grizzled smuggler and a precocious teenager, but it did a fair amount of work to examine them on a deeper level. spent time. It explored themes of morality, dating, ethics and grief against the backdrop of a zombie-like apocalypse. The characters followed significant arcs that saw them change, for better or worse. Released in 2013, it was quickly hailed not only as one of the greatest video games of all time, but as an exceptional story in its own right.
So it’s no surprise that The Last of Us was a hugely successful TV show. Prioritizing character development over action and plot means that the narrative aspects of the game are more in line with “prestige drama” than typical AAA video game stories. But beyond that, Druckmann and Straley’s approach to fitting The Last of Us’ gameplay to its cinematic influences makes it even more amenable to adaptation. Even when recreating moments where the player has control over the camera, such as driving through Austin during the prologue, the show does well in its medium. I feel completely at home. This isn’t a video game TV show, it’s just a TV show. Compared to his Halo series, where he erred in his FPS roots in first-person sequences, the result is night and day.
In 2014, Amy Henning left Naughty Dog, leaving a vacant seat at the top of Uncharted. . The duo, along with writer Josh Cher, introduced the complexity of The Last of Us characters into Uncharted 4.
“
In the previous game, Drake’s Deception, Henning had planted the seeds to suggest that Nate values treasure hunting more than his own relationships. A more mature story challenges our perception of Nate, and a story in which the character experiences pain, betrayal, and most importantly, growth. These adventurers were no longer just fun friends, they were genuine people. All of this comes together in a game that’s as exciting as the original Popcorn trilogy.
All the movie should have been drinking is from Uncharted 4’s rich waters. Not… rather, it wanted the robust layers, motivation, and development arc found in the fourth game. Characters can be genuinely interesting without being brooding, but they need depth and humanity to do so. Something that Nate and Sally were completely lacking in the movie. And without a replayable sequence to occupy the viewer’s mind and hand, it was all too obvious.
After finishing work on Uncharted 4, Bruce Straley moved on from Naughty Dog. But even without Story by his side, Druckmann continued the growth trajectory that began with the first story of Joel and Ellie. doubled down on the deeper and more nuanced character arcs as part of the path leading to With the help of screenwriter Halley Gross, Druckmann explored complex and difficult relationships between women in the Ellie-centric sequel. It analyzed the cycles of violence that emerge and aggravate in people who cannot cope with their own vengeance. It’s a sprawling epic that serves as a clear milestone in how far the studio’s approach to characters and narrative has come. It could be an amazing season (or two) of a TV show. season has already seen even hints of that theme through new character Kathleen, whose community suffers while blindly chasing revenge for her brother’s murder.
The Last of Us’ success as a show reflects Naughty Dog’s maturity as a storyteller. While the studio hasn’t put out a bad game since the days of Crash Bandicoot, it has had a distinct and fascinating period of growth over the past 15 years, evolving from an exciting game studio to a remarkable storyteller. We often talk about how video games have to be modified and translated enough for a successful adaptation. HBO certainly did it with The Last of Us, but the fact that Druckmann and his showrunner Craig Mazin were able to use much of the game’s original script (and rendition) on a large scale is a definite plus for Naughty Dog. is the ultimate testament to the mature narrative talent of .
Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Features Editor.
