The first full photo of Joel and Ellie from HBO's upcoming The Last of Us series secretly hid the debut of the show's clickers.
While the photo released by HBO Max offered the first look at Pedro Pascal's Joel and Bella Ramsey's Ellie, hidden in the dark background of the photo are two clickers that the two characters seem to be hiding from. This is the first look at the show's version of clickers, which are the third stage of an infected human that first appeared in the original The Last of Us video game.
Along with the clickers, the photo seems to be taken from a location straight out of 2013's Last of Us video game, with Joel and Ellie hiding inside what looks to be the museum on the outskirts of Boston, Massachusetts. In the game, the museum is the site of an intense chapter wherein Joel is separated from Ellie and must fight his way through a flood of infected to reunite with her.
Originally announced in 2014, HBO Max's The Last of Us entered production in July of 2021. Season 1 will consist of 10 episodes and adapts the storyline from the original Last of Us game, based on a screenplay written by Naughty Dog game developer and series co-creator Neil Druckmann and Chernobyl writer Craig Mazin. Druckmann currently serves as Naughty Dog co-president and co-head writer/executive producer, as well as a director for the 10-episode first season. Druckmann wrapped filming for the series in November 2021.
Released by Naughty Dog in 2013, The Last of Us video game follows a smuggler named Joel who is tasked with leading Ellie, a 14-year-old girl immune to the Cordyceps virus that has ravaged humanity for nearly twenty years, across the post-apocalyptic United States. Seven years later, a sequel titled The Last of Us Part II was released in 2020. HBO Max will adapt the first game in the franchise, which will star Pascal as Joel Miller and Ramsey (Game of Thrones) as Ellie Williams, who has referred to the role as "the biggest thing" of her career so far. Filming on the pilot episode wrapped in October 2021, according to the episode director Kantemir Balagov, and series co-star Gabriel Luna has stated that fans can expect the small-screen adaptation to premiere sooner than expected.
The series was filmed mostly in Calgary, Alberta, and production is expected to wrap in June 2022. HBO's The Last of Us is set to premiere on HBO and stream on HBO Max sometime in 2023, though it does not have a specific release date.
Source: Twitter
