HBO just dropped the first proper teaser trailer for The Last Of Us and there is a lot to unpack from the 109 seconds clip. Although the show will of course follow Joel and Ellie's story, the trailer suggests the side characters will be a lot more fleshed out.
We also get our first look at the terrifying Clickers, the Fireflies, and Ellie and Joel's desperate escape from the city, as well as our first hint at one of the most heartbreaking moments of the game.
The Trailer Song Is From The Game
Usually, the song choices for trailers are quite arbitrary, but the showrunners paid close attention to what song should be playing in the background. Hank William's "Alone" and "Foresaken" are the atmospheric choices for the trailer.
Fans of the video game will recognize the song from when Ellie stole the tape from Bill's and Joel plays the tape while they drive to Pittsburgh, its a nice little heartwarming moment, and playing it in the trailer is a nice reference to one of the pleasanter parts of the game. Joel also comments that the songs are actually "Before his time".
Firefly Symbol
Fans of the video game need no introduction to the Firefly group, they were the revolutionary militia group who often opposed the government in charge.
It can be seen in the teaser that the Firefly symbol is being painted over by the government. There is also a clip with the phrase, "When you are lost in the darkness" written on the walls which also happen to be one of the phrases that Firefly uses to guide or recruit people. This reference suggests that the show will follow similar lines to the game, sticking closely to the story of the Fireflies.
Joel's Watch Is Broken
Anyone who has played the first 20 minutes of the game will recognize the broken watch that Joel is wearing in the teaser. It's the final gift from his daughter, Sarah, before she is shot during the panic of the outbreak. This reference is important as it's a huge part of Joel's character development and shows good attention to detail by the showrunners.
The scene in the video game was one of the most heartbreaking ones, partly due to one of the best voice actor performances by Troy Baker who voiced Joel, and whether or not they choose to open the show in the same way, it remains a crucial part of The Last of Us lore.
Someone Is Chained Up
There is a split-second clip in the trailer which shows someone wearing converse shoes being chained up. This seems to be directly picked up from the video game where Ellie gets captured by the cannibal, David, and Tess and Joel, some of the most capable main characters in the video game come to her rescue.
Later in the trailer, there are some other clips that seem to be part of the same sequence, like Ellie crawling for her life in what seems to be a basement, confirming that this important part of The Last of Us will be fleshed out more fully in the show and fans may get more information on the cannibal group and how they came to be.
Tess, Ellie, And Joel Escaping Boston
Very early on in the game, players Tess, Ellie and Joel escaping Boston after they had been detained by the guards.
While escaping the guards, they go through the tunnels and sewage system around the city, a similar shot in the trailer seems to point out towards this escape. The Last Of Us had some of the best female voice actor performances which added to the overall tension and drama in such scenes and with the heightened drama and realism of the television series this scene could be one of the most important in the first season.
Post Apocalyptic Boston
Multiple shots in the teaser give the viewers a peak into the post-apocalyptic cities and towns that Joel and Ellie will go through, Boston being one of the major highlights of The Last of Us. Some shots are a direct recreation of the video game.
There are also posters and signs all over the city warning people to stay away from anyone showing symptoms of the virus. It will be interesting to see how much of the world before the virus is shown to the audience.
First Look At A Clicker
Towards the end of the trailer, viewers get the first view of what a "clicker" would look like on the show. The scene seems like a shot-by-shot remake of the first time Tess, Joel and Ellie encounter a clicker in the game and show the levels the team behind the show has gone to ensure they stay faithful to the game's vision.
As the Clickers are one of the most terrifying versions of the infected in the game, and the one the player encounters the most, fans would have been disappointed to have seen their iconic design altered. Thankfully instead, the show seems to have only enhanced the detail on the monsters.
A Sneak Peak Of Tess And Marlene
Tess and Marlene are two very different women in the game. One is Joel's smuggling partner, the other is the leader of the revolutionary group the Fireflies, but both agree to help Joel and Ellie.
What we can see from this trailer is the startling likeness of both actresses to their video game counterparts, although we don't know if their stories will play out the same.
"Left Behind" DLC Reference
In one of the shots in the trailer, Ellie is riding a merry-go-around with someone who looks like Riley from the video game. This is interesting because Riley was part of a DLC to The Last Of Us called "Left behind".
Only time will tell how in depth the show will go into the storyline of "Left behind" and how the showrunners integrate this into the larger story, considering The Last Of Us is one of the best story driven video games of all time.