It's officially been three years since The Last of Us premiered on HBO, reinvigorated the zombie genre, and showed the world just what kind of storytelling is possible within this incredible genre.
The hit HBO series based on the video game series of the same name premiered on Jan. 15, 2023, and lit the world on fire. With all due respect to The Walking Dead, the 28 Days Later franchises, and other classic zombie shows and movies, the world had simply never seen anything quite like The Last of Us in terms of the scope, production value, and focus on the small details.
The Last of Us was created by Craig Mazin, best known for his critically acclaimed and award-winning miniseries Chernobyl, and Neil Druckmann, who also created the video games series which the show is based.
After a zombie apocalypse caused by fungus takes over the world, Ellie, played by Bella Ramsey, is a teenager who may hold the secret to ending the pandemic. Joel, played by Pedro Pascal, becomes her companion and protector as they travel the United States to, hopefully, reach a place where Ellie can be used to help others. Along the way, they meet their fair share of challenges, including the trauma of the past they can never outrun.
The Last of Us proves the zombie genre is perfect for telling other kinds of stories, too
To me, The Last of Us is the best zombie series of all time, but it's also proof that we don't need to just focus on the survival aspect of the apocalypse. There's so much more to explore. There are love stories and so much drama among the horrors of the zombie apocalypse. Of course, it's not the only show to prove this point, but it's the show that does it the best.
While the larger story about Elle and Joel is the focus, The Last of Us also made time, similar to The Walking Dead, to tell the beautiful stories of these other great characters. The episode about Bill and Frank, played by Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett, is one of the best TV episodes of the last decade, easily.
So far, we've seen two seasons of The Last of Us, with a third season on the way. While some fans didn't love some of the choices made in the second season, there's no denying the quality, from a story and production standpoint, that The Last of Us is delivering with each new episode. It's tragic and heartbreaking, but the fact remains that we've never seen a creative team deliver apocalyptic drama that rival the critical TV darlings.
Now, I know this will probably upset some Walking Dead fans, but there's no debate that The Last of Us is the superior zombie show, even if fans don't love it the most. It's almost an apples to oranges comparison, despite them both being of the same genre. HBO allowed The Last of Us's creative team, Mazin and Druckmann, to take a much different approach than AMC did with The Walking Dead, and I think that's quite apparent when you look at the production of each show. AMC went very broadcast TV by the end of the run with 20-plus episodes in each season, and many storylines dragged out over so many seasons and episodes.
Again, this isn't meant to disparage The Walking Dead in any way. The show is obviously fantastic and beloved, and it paved the way for everything zombie that we're seeing right now. And, it's also true that The Last of Us is just an incredible work of art that redefined what a zombie show could be in the streaming era with a sizable investment and narrowed focus.
The Last of Us season 3 should arrive on HBO in 2027. Production on the new season is slated to begin this spring. We'll share more updates as we find out.