The Last of Us, the TV adaptation of the 2013 game of the same name, saw creators having to make difficult choices when it came to picking what they left out of the TV series.
The HBO show stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as the pair who travel across a post-apocalyptic United States to find a cure for a deadly virus.
Executive producer Craig Mazin explained that they approached it from the view of a fan to decide what they could leave out.
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"Ultimately, adaptation is all about choices. And we can talk until our faces turn blue about how we make those choices," he told RadioTimes. "And there's a lot of math to it. But for me, what it always came back to was, 'What do I love?' What, as a fan, would I be hurt if I didn't see it in the show?
He continued: "And what do I think we would absolutely have to change to adapt to a medium that is passive, that isn't interactive, that doesn't require gameplay? And what are the things that we can be inspired by and adjust and just let ourselves be creative, but always within the bounds of 'what do we love'?"
Neil Druckmann, who created the game, was brought on board to write and produce the show, and said that there are some adaptations from games that don't work as well due to directors making the wrong choices.
Related: The Last of Us trailer reveals Joel and Ellie's struggle for survival
"We did deviate, but not to surprise the audience," Druckmann explained. "That was never our goal, like, 'how do we surprise them?' We knew that would happen organically as we just kind of adapt this from one medium to another, and the surprises will emerge in that way. But yeah, that was never, never a focus of ours."
The first season, which will consist of nine episodes, will premiere on January 15 on HBO in the US, and a day later on Sky Atlantic for UK viewers. Each instalment will be available at the same time as the US premiere each week at 2am and on demand thereafter.
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Tasha is a freelance writer for with a particular interest in the representation of women in film and TV. After graduating with a Literature degree then journalism qualifications with News Associates a few years further back than she’d like to admit, Tasha began her freelance career. She’s worked as a writer, editor and commissioning editor for a number of publications including Digital Spy. She is also a theatre critic. LinkedIn
