Review: “The Last of Us: The Complete First Season” Now Available to Own on Digital & Home Video

Order Your Copy of “The Last of Us: The Complete First Season” on Amazon!

Millions of viewers know now why loyal gamers have been clamoring for a worthy adaptation of The Last of Us. Based on the famed video game of the same name, the HBO original drama series marked HBO’s second largest debut, behind only “House of the Dragon,” and has shown consistent growth throughout its first season culminating in a 75% increase in Sunday night’s finale audience. Recently renewed for a second season, fans can own all nine episodes of the critically-acclaimed first season along with nearly 3 hours of special features including 3 all-new featurettes, now available to purchase digitally.

The Last of Us takes place 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal and heartbreaking journey as they both must traverse the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.

Season one stars Pedro Pascal as Joel, Bella Ramsey as Ellie, Gabriel Luna as Tommy, Anna Torv as Tess, Nico Parker as Sarah, Murray Bartlett as Frank, Nick Offerman as Bill, Melanie Lynskey as Kathleen, Storm Reid as Riley, Merle Dandridge as Marlene, Jeffrey Pierce as Perry, Lamar Johnson as Henry, Keivonn Woodard as Sam, Graham Greene as Marlon, and Elaine Miles as Florence. Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker also star.

With a 96% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, The Last of Us has been declared “HBO’s next big hit” by Rolling Stone, with Variety noting, “one sees the near future in which the show winds up among television’s best.” IndieWire declared the new series “better than every video game adaptation that comes to mind,” with IGN hailing it as “a brilliant retelling of one of video games’ most beloved stories” and adding that it “delivers an enriching show for fans of the PlayStation hit, while also managing to stay welcomingly thrilling to newcomers.” CNN called the storytelling “absolutely fearless and unflinching, creating horrifying scenarios and moments that can be alternately touching and utterly tragic.”

The Last of Us, based on the critically acclaimed video game of the same name developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation® platforms, is written and executive produced by Craig Mazin (Emmy® Award-winning creator of HBO’s “Chernobyl”) and Neil Druckmann (creator and writer of the award-winning “The Last of Us” franchise and Naughty Dog Co-President). The series is a co-production with Sony Pictures Television and is executive produced by Carolyn Strauss, Evan Wells, Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan, and Rose Lam. Production companies: PlayStation Productions, Word Games, The Mighty Mint, and Naughty Dog.

The Last of Us: The Complete First Season is available to purchase Digitally from Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV, Google Play, Vudu and more. 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD is also available to purchase online and in-store at major retailers.

The Playstation video game from Naughty Dog Studios known as The Last of Us became a global phenomenon for portraying a fungal infection that transforms those infected into vicious monsters in a brutal and emotional fashion, all through the lens of two classic characters. Adapting it for HBO as a television series was a prospect that could either make or break the idea; after all, video game adaptations have been historically known to not work out.

Fortunately, HBO’s The Last of Us adapted the policy of, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The series has become just as much a sensation as the game for good reason: it’s one of the best shows of the year and possibly the decade.

In 2003, the world stops dead in its tracks when a viral fungus called cordyceps takes over millions of people, transforming them into monsters. 20 years later, a hardened survivor named Joel (Pedro Pascal) takes on the task of transporting a feisty young woman named Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across the ravaged country on a dangerous mission, where they must contend with infected, survivors both good and bad and each other.

The Last of Us grips you right from minute one with a harrowing opening depicting epidemiologists discussing the threat that fungi can pose to mankind, which rings all too true given recent world events. That threat is realized in a visceral and horrific way once the infected are seen onscreen, creating a truly unique and disguising menace that actually terrifies anyone who sees them. Episode two had me watching through my fingers once the infected “clickers” as they’re known attack our heroes.

But all throughout the danger and terror, the audience is drawn further and further into this world via Joel and Ellie’s literal journey. Pascal and Ramsey are both perfectly cast, not only individually, but as a duo that go through the gambit of misery and come out the other side 100% different then when they started. Watching their relationship evolve over the course of the season is a true journey that will genuinely move you from minute one to the final “Okay.”

And then, there’s episode three, “Long, Long Time.” Wow. To pull off an all time masterpiece of television only three episodes into your first season is a hat trick that the team should be incredibly proud of. Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett give a masterclass in portraying a true relationship over decades that strikes even the most hardened viewer right in the feels. It’s a monumental feat of television and while you could argue the season peaks early, it doesn’t matter because it’s so good.

Yes, The Last of Us is brutal, heart rending and at times, tear inducing, but it’s also an expertly executed story regardless of its origin. Good stories make you feel, care and debate their moral complexities endlessly and this first season does all of that in spades. If The Last of Us can maintain this momentum for season two, we’re talking all time great territory.

The Last of Us: The Complete First Season includes:

9 ONE HOUR EPISODES
1) When You’re Lost in the Darkness
2) fected
3) Long, Long Time
4) Please Hold to My Hand
5) Endure and Survive
6) Kin
7) Left Behind
8) When We Are in Need
9) Look for the Light

4K Ultra HD Blu-RaySPECIAL FEATURES

• Nine Inside The Episode Featurettes- Originally aired on HBO following each episode, these featurettes break down each episode with interviews with the cast and crew.
• Controllers Down: Adapting The Last of Us- This featurette breaks down the main differences and similarities between the game and show versions of each and every main character featured in the series, including the main divergences from certain characters like Bill and Frank.
• From Levels to Live Action- A look at moments from both the game and the show and which moments were changed and which were left as is, as well as a look at how the infected were created.
• The Last Of Us: Stranger Than Fiction- This triggering featurette discusses with real life epidemiologists and survival experts the possibility of a cordyceps infection, what would happen to society in an apocalypse and the potential response from the government in that event.
• Ashley Johnson Spotlight- Ashley Johnson, who originally played Ellie in the video game, speaks to her experience playing Ellie’s mother in the show.
• Four Get To Know Me Featurettes- The only lightheartedness you’ll get on the extras, cast members, including Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, Gabriel Luna, Nick Offerman, Murray Bartlett and Merle Dandridge answer funny questions regarding their experiences on the set.
• Two Is This a Line From The Last Of Us? Featurettes- Cast members play a game where they must identify lines of dialogue from the series as well as other HBO shows.
• Five The Last Of Us Debrief With Troy Baker Featurettes- Troy Baker, who played Joel in the video game, answers fan questions.

DVD SPECIAL FEATURES

• The Last of Us: Stranger Than Fiction (New Featurette Exclusive to 4K, BD and DVD) – Series cast and filmmakers are joined by experts in survival, microbiology, and parasitology for a chilling discussion on the realities of the invasive fungus and subsequent apocalypse in The Last of Us.
• Controllers Down: Adapting The Last of Us (New Featurette Exclusive to 4K, BD and DVD) – Follow the journey of The Last of Us from console to screen as cast and filmmakers take us inside the process of expanding the world and breathing new life into the game’s beloved characters.
• From Levels to Live Action (New Featurette Exclusive to 4K, BD and DVD) – Discover how The Last of Us incorporated and expanded fan-favorite game moments in the series.
• Getting to Know Me (4 Featurettes)
• The Last Debrief with Troy Baker (2 Featurettes)
• Inside the Episode (9 Featurettes)
• Is This A The Last of Us Line? (2 Featurettes)