The Last of Us’ Troy Baker Didn’t Want The Game Turned Into a Series

When Baker was first involved with the “The Last of Us” game, he knew he was a part of something special. “You never know if [a project] will be as good as you’re hoping for it to be, but it was, and then it gets out in the world, and it just blows up and becomes this phenomenon,” Baker told Deadline, in relation to his expectations of audience reception for the video game. It is one thing to hope for a strong, positive response, but to actually achieve it in a way that surpasses expectations is undoubtedly a special feeling, one Baker cherishes deeply given how invested he is in the world of “The Last of Us.”

As a result, when Druckmann decided to make an adaptation, Baker was, in his own words, “against the idea of the show,” as he was unsure whether it could match up to the critical acclaim that the game enjoyed. When he asked Druckmann why the game warranted a series at all, the latter said the following:

“Because I believe this story is good enough to get out to people who will never pick up a controller, and we need to bring this story to them.”

Druckmann was right. As a first-person gaming experience, “The Last of Us” is uplifting, heartbreaking, beautiful, and harrowing all at once. There’s something universal about a story centered on a hardened survivor tasked to protect a young girl who might be the key to human survival, wherein his reluctance gradually morphs into a fiercely protective brand of fatherhood with grave repercussions. The cordyceps-infected world feels especially poignant in the post-pandemic era and Druckmann recognized the potential of such a poignant tale as an emotionally resonant, high-stakes television series with a wider audience appeal.