THE LAST OF US Series Actor Excitedly Talks About The Scripts, Saying They Are "Breathtaking"

I’m pretty excited about HBO’s series adaptation of the hit video game The Last of Us. But now actor Jeffrey Pierce, who plays Perry in the series, is giving fans more reason to be excited as he says the scripts that have been written for the film are “breathtaking.”

While a guest on the To All The Films We Judged Before podcast, Pierce offered a bit of insight, saying, "I’ve read a couple of the scripts and they are breathtaking, every piece of tone and texture of the game exists in the writing and then it’s a hundred times more because you get to do so much more [because] it’s all cinematic it’s not at all gameplay."

He continued, "I think they’re the best scripts I’ve ever seen in terms of level of detail, level of texture, capturing of the essence of Joel and Ellie, and all the other characters. It is going to be phenomenal. [knowing that] what you’re walking into is going to be something that can’t help but be excellent is a great feeling."

Pierce also recalls the first time he read the script given to him by directors Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin, saying, "I was excited about it but when I read the scripts I was like ‘Jesus Christ Neil, this is just - it’s perfect. [Neil] and Craig are doing amazing work at translating what was effective about the game into a real cinematic masterpiece, and I cannot wait to watch it." 

That’s some pretty high praise and he went on to talk about his character Perry sharing that he’s “brand new and part of a brand new branch that has huge implications for things that did occur in the game.” He also explains that his character is utilized in a way that “will unveil things that attach to the game” and those things will make the game series make even more sense. 

The story for the series “takes place twenty 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, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse across the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.”

Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey have been cast in the series as Joel and Ellie. Gabriel Luna also stars in the film as Tommy, Joel’s younger brother, “a former soldier who hasn’t lost his sense of idealism and hope for a better world.” Actress Merle Dandridge is set to take on the role of Marlene in the series, the head of the Fireflies, “a resistance movement struggling for freedom against an oppressive military regime.”

The Last of Us project is being developed by Craig Mazin, the creator of HBO’s acclaimed limited series Chernobyl. He wrote the show and is executive producing with Neil Druckmann, the writer and creative director of the game. The pilot for the project will be helmed by Russian filmmaker Kantemir Balagov, who directed the drama Beanpole.

It’s said that HBO is “aiming for a serious dramatic tone for the adaptation.” The rest of the production team includes Carolynn Strauss (Chernobyl) and Carter Swan along with Evan Wells of Naughty Dog and Asad Qizilbash from PlayStation Productions. Kantemir Balagov is directing the pilot episode of The Last Of Us.