The Last of Us new trailer shows off several LGBTQ characters
The live-action adaptation of the 2013 video game will see Ellie as canonically queer.
HBO has released a trailer for the much anticipated live-action adaptation of the 2013 video game The Last of Us starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey.
The Last of Us ranks as one of the biggest-selling video games of all time, and the main character Ellie (Ramsey) is canonically queer.
Her sexuality was addressed in the game’s 2014 spin-off, The Last of Us: Left Behind, where it was confirmed she is a lesbian.
The synopsis for the HBO show reads: “Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone to the Fireflies, a cure-searching organization.”
“What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse across the U.S. and depend on each other for survival,” the plot continues.
The trailer sees the pair quietly tiptoe through rickety buildings and abandoned estates in search of an escape.
Tension builds as the message ‘when you’re lost in the darkness’ appears written on the wall in red ink (maybe blood?) followed by a digger brandished with the advice to ‘run.’
Erupting explosions and flying bullets paint a picture of what is looking to be a thrilling post-apocalyptic drama.
Also in the trailer, we get a quick glance at Riley (Storm Reid), Ellie’s best friend from Left Behind, a suggestion that we may see an exploration of Riley and Ellie’s relationship, maybe even their first kiss in the show.
Other LGBTQ+ characters in the show include Bill (Nick Offerman), a gay man who is the last survivor in the town where his partner Frank (Murray Bartlett) got infected.
With the announcement of this adaption back in 2020, writer and producer Craig Mazin vowed that the show will not shy away from exploring Ellie’s sexuality onscreen.
In 2018, the game’s original writer Halley Gross confirmed that Ellie was “born gay”, adding: “That’s just who she is.”
There’s no release date yet for the show but The Last of Us is set to premiere on HBO and HBO Max in early 2023.
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