When AMC’s The Walking Dead first debuted on Halloween in 2010, it was difficult to imagine it stretching into the behemoth it would become, especially due to the first season’s short run time. At only six episodes, the first season felt more like a test run than a confident stride, attempting to introduce an ensemble cast while also trying to explain how its world arrived at the state of complete chaos that it did. With The Last of Us primed to hit the medium of television in the near future, there are some key lessons it could stand to learn from The Walking Dead’s mistakes, and one it could incorporate from the zombie franchise’s success. Comparisons will be made between the two, inevitably, so hopefully this upcoming series will take advantage of learning from its predecessor.
To start, The Walking Dead‘s opening season did not take off the way The Last of Us needs to. The landscape of television is very different now, and the seminal Naughty Dog game needs to hit the ground running in Season 1. The game gives no backstory or context of the origins of the outbreak, they just thrust players into chaos, then skip ahead 20 years and show the state of the world, upended by the fungal infection. The show would do well to ensure that by the end of Episode 2, viewers are actively involved in Joel and Ellie’s journey. It’s likely that director Druckmann, who has been involved and seems in support of the casting so far, is likely very self-aware of this important element.
The original game’s core strength was that it had a simple narrative that focused primarily on two characters. Even The Walking Dead had more to juggle in its first season out of the gate, and it may be tempting for the TV show to try too early developing too much too soon. While the sequel could easily be incorporated into the TV series in a more evenly paced way, it would still probably be wise for the TV series to not overcomplicate things too soon. Keep things focused on Ellie and Joel for a good while first. It’s incredibly difficult for horror TV shows to be as scary as horror movies, which is why it’s wiser to focus more on character development and building tension.
That being said, one strength The Walking Dead managed to develop well over time was the way it shifted points of view, giving everyone their chance to shine. There were entire bottle episodes showcasing strong character moments, side stories, and back stories. And its spinoff, Fear the Walking Dead, is nearing its seventh season. While such an approach might not have pleased a lot of the mainstream, even The Last of Us had elements of this in its original story, with supporting characters that came and went and time skips that forced the narrative forward.
While The Last of Us absolutely needs to keep things locked in on Joel and Ellie (casting The Mandolorian’s Pedro Pascal as Joel makes it clear they mean business) it would make sense to organically start incorporating the ideas Part II of the game did earlier into the timeline. Many were turned off by plot elements of Part II, but the core concepts of its narrative are actually very in-line with the original game’s world and writing style — and it shares a lot of DNA with later seasons of The Walking Dead, too. It wouldn’t be surprising if there were entire episodes, or at least scenes, that break off from Joel and Ellie to show other characters in the world.
Where The Walking Dead frustrated many in this regard was its implementation, splitting characters up across different episodes. While some of us may enjoy the ‘bottle episode’ side stories and the tighter storytelling they allow, they’re not for everyone. And yet it’s undeniable that such an approach would fit right in line with how The Last of Us likes to tell it stories. It’s easy to envision an entire episode dedicated to Ellie’s Left Behind‘ DLC, for example, giving Bella Ramsey a chance to shine. Or there could be an episode down the line establishing Abby’s motivations, too. While it’s exciting to consider how a TV show could remix characters and plot, it might serve The Last of Us better to ease viewers in to more characters over time, and keep everything glued and focused on one core narrative for a good while. This was, after all, the path the influential original game used to great effect.
There is one final core lesson The Last of Us should take away from The Walking Dead‘s errors. While the latter has attained great financial success, it has also turned its back on many fans who have simply lost interest over time. The hollow feeling of abandoning a beloved show because it refuses to die can sour the entire experience. Like putting down a zombified loved one, The Last of Us would do well to not waste this opportunity to tell a tight story and offer an actual conclusion. The Walking Dead is finally – at long last – gearing up for its final season, but many fans dropped out years ago because it simply took too long to get there. Let’s hope The Last of Us doesn’t wear its welcome.
It’s incredibly easy to imagine how this TV show could expand on characters, plot, backstory, and more from the game’s world, and even ways it could remix things to improve the story. But it would spit in the face of the game’s legacy and devalue things if it commercializes itself too hard and refuses to end. Whatever the showrunners have planned, however they work in elements from the sequel game, let’s hope they have a plan for offering a rewarding conclusion. There is always room for improvement, and hopefully fans will be getting a PS5 update to The Last of Us Part II soon, but TV shows are more static in this way, so it’s trickier to figure out how to start, how to stop, and when. There can always be time for side stories and spin-offs after the fact when the corporate suits inevitably come calling for more, but if the mainline show doesn’t come to a conclusion and instead wallows in its decaying world for too long, it will lose track of what makes the series beautiful in the first place.
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