He was immediately drawn into the story.
“The theme of, do the ends justify the means?
“It was groundbreaking.
Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey debut as Joel and Ellie in HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’.HBO
It was almost like this feeling of lightning in a bottle.”
“And for us, it’s getting to relive it.”
Escayg has relived the glory days ofThe Last of Usmore than most.
Joel fights off a clicker in ‘The Last of Us’.Naughty Dog
Escayg served as creative director on this project, which dropped today on Playstation 5.
This is years after a fungal plague laid waste to humanity, transforming those infected into zombified monstrosities.
Don’t ask questions.
That’s the job.
Take it or leave it.
Three weeks later, it becamethe biggest launch of an original game since 2011.
Why was this game having such an immediate impact?
It’s clear to both Escayg and Gallant.
“Bruce and Neil had a vision.
“When you’re in control of the character, we call it ‘on the stick.’
And, yeah, there’s gonna be cinematics.
Everything about the game was telling the story.
It was also highly cinematic.
He remembers complaining about the cinematography to Druckmann, who told him to make it better.
You just knew you were on the cusp of something.”
“I think that had a ripple effect across the game industry,” Gallant adds.
The whole thing is the story.'
Trying to align every system and every decision to support that storytelling.”
(Craig MazinofChernobylco-created the series and executive produces with Druckmann.)
“Just the weight of that sat with us and still sits with us today.
“I found that to be true ofThe Last of Us.”
(Lamar Johnson will play Henry and Keivonn Woodard will play Sam in the HBO drama.)
“Kind of like a dad, but not.
When a younger brother is growing older, they start to challenge you.
‘You’re not my dad.’
That’s the dynamic where they’re in the toy store, for example.”
The toy store scene occurs fairly soon after Joel and Ellie meet them in the game.
“These are very relatable moments that I’ve had with my younger brother in different contexts.”
It was only in 2020 that HBOannouncedthey were officially moving ahead with the TV series.
It’s clearly a big focus for HBO.
“They really, really care about the art direction,” Gallant says.
“That two-second clip of the infected embedded in the wall.
That looks like it’s right out of the game.
The way the characters' outfits look.
The way certain lines are delivered in that trailer.
That’s often not true in video game adaptations.
They often take really big creative license with the original franchise.
This looks like it’s just gonna be so authentic to the original games.
