The Last Of Us reviews dub HBO series ‘best TV adaptation ever made’

A big-budget TV adaptation of a popular video game is set to debut on Binge in a matter of days, and early reviews have lauded it as near on perfect.

Reviews are piling in for – arguably – the most anticipated TV series of 2023, and they’re near on perfect.

HBO went into risky territory when it greenlit an adaptation of the viral video game The Last Of Us, with many creatives having already tried and failed to emulate the success of a popular game into a binge-worthy television series.

But it seems the production company has managed to pull off what many thought was impossible, with one reviewer going so far as to call it the “best TV adaptation ever made”.

The nine-part series is in worthy hands – created by the game’s mastermind Neil Druckmann and Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin – and debuts exclusively on Australian streamer Binge on January 16.

Pedro Pascal and Anna Torv bring to life the small-screen adaptation of the survival horror video game, which was originally released in 2013 and has since won more than 200 ‘Game of the Year’ Awards.

Pedro Pascal in a scene from The Last Of Us.

But critics treated to early screeners have delivered their opinions this week, and you’d be hard-pressed finding anything less than a glowing take.

news.com.au’s own TV critic Wenlei Ma described it as “irresistible TV” and “the first great TV show of 2023”, while The Guardian’s Joel Golby dubbed it the “perfect video game adaptation”.

TIME magazine said it was an “exquisitely made adaptation”, while BBC concluded, “It doesn’t feel even remotely controversial to call this the best video game adaptation ever made.”

Stream The Last Of Us on BINGE from January 16. New customers get a 14-day free trial and start streaming instantly. Sign up at binge.com.au

The video game The Last Of Us remains one of the most popular games of all time.

The series, which reportedly cost $13 million an episode, is set 20 years on from a global pandemic that decimated the human population, after a fungus-based infection burrowed into people’s brains turning them into rabid, infectious zombies.

Per the video game, the focus centres on Joel Miller (Pascal), who has spent the past two decades barely surviving as a smuggler alongside his partner Tess (Torv).

The beacon of hope in a bleak existence for Joel is 14-year-old Ellie (Bella Ramsey), of whom he becomes a protector. Ellie is immune to the infection and might be the only key to a cure or a vaccine.

The Last Of Us premieres on Binge January 16