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‘The Last of Us’ Avoided ‘The Walking Dead’s Biggest Problem

As the first season of The Last of Us draws to a close, this is an opportune moment to reflect on HBO’s zombie horror series and compare it against other beloved franchises in its genre. One such comparison that often springs up is with AMC’s huge hit The Walking Dead – both are based off iconic source material, leading them to take over water-cooler conversations during their broadcast runs. It’s no surprise then that fans so frequently measure these two television giants side by side; let the battle commence for who will be the final show standing!

The Last of Us and its counterpart share a few commonalities, however the overall consensus is that The Last of Us has provided more than what was initially expected. Story-wise, both series concentrate on how mankind becomes a greater threat than their undead counterparts in post-apocalyptic society. With gripping protagonists and mind-provoking premises, it’s easy to understand why these two hits have been so successful. But what sets them apart from one another? As many fans would agree, The Last of Us has taken the idea farther than its predecessor—The Walking Dead—while avoiding any missteps that the earlier show may have made along the way. So, how can this be explained?

Their Platforms Are as Important as Their Stories

'The Last of Us' Avoided 'The Walking Dead's Biggest Problem

Long before HBO snagged it, a live-action version of The Last of Us had been bouncing around. Screen Gems briefly planned to turn the project into a movie but ultimately decided against it. When HBO took on the adaptation, they hired two creative forces specifically for the purpose: Neil Druckmann – one of Naughty Dog’s game creators – and Craig Mazin who is renowned for his work on Chernobyl with HBO in earlier years. Tasked as such, this dynamic duo aimed to bring The Last Of Us from digital screens onto TV through an abbreviated premium cable season format exclusively provided by HBO.

AMC’s The Walking Dead is one of the most popular TV shows ever. Unlike its source material, the video game adaptation The Last of Us, it falls within regular cable TV programming guidelines and has longer seasons that require mid-season and season finales as well as episodes with no end date in sight since Kirkman’s comics had not ended when first aired. This factor alone places it closer to Game of Thrones than to The Last Of Us which creates a unique challenge for writers who must fill gaps left by original materials.

It’s virtually impossible to compare these two shows without considering their platform, as this factor determined how each show was crafted. Moreover, they were released in distinct industry contexts; The Walking Dead aired on cable TV where seasons had to be elongated for nearly half a year whereas The Last of Us originated during an established streaming era. HBO has traditionally produced shorter seasons, however streaming services had to adapt this model in order to ensure their subscribers remain engaged with the platform. The availability of diverse content ensures that viewers don’t focus solely on one series but explore all options available.

The Last of Us, designed for streaming from the start, has been able to thrive on HBO and HBO Max. Its counterpart however, The Walking Dead, is struggling to keep up in an ever-evolving industry landscape with many spinoffs that have not seen success like its predecessor had. Despite having a rocky run on TV during its peak years, it’s true testament lies in how much it was affected by the rapidly changing entertainment business world.

Original Media Sets Different Standards for Loyalty to the Source Material

'The Last of Us' Avoided 'The Walking Dead's Biggest Problem

The Last of Us and The Walking Dead are two completely different worlds, presenting their own unique set of challenges when adapting. Add to that the fact that one is based on a video game and the other on a comic book series lasting 16 years, it’s no surprise that there will be discrepancies between them. For example, while playing through The Last Of Us takes roughly 14 hours in total; condensing this onto screen would differ from its original source material significantly.

The Last of Us is renowned for its gripping narrative, with a brisk momentum guiding the story. Though it may have been faulted for lacking in zombie content relative to other horror shows, its true purpose was never centered around them – rather, they are merely featured players used as a backdrop to unpacking humanity’s struggles amid an apocalypse. Characters like Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey) and David (Scott Shepherd) were granted significant screentime despite each having only one episode devoted to them; which serves testament that ultimately humans remain the most perilous foes even when facing extinction!

Furthermore, Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Joel’s (Pedro Pascal) journey is thoughtfully structured around intriguing secondary characters like Bill and Frank (Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett), Tess’ (Anna Torv), Henry and Sam’s arcs(Lamar Johnson and Keivonn Woodard). As these stories progress, they offer the protagonists a chance to forge meaningful relationships — whether as friends or foes — that propel them forward in their own narrative. The characters, even those created specifically for the show, must fit into a narrative that is still guided by the same rules of the original game. Of course there may be some modifications to these guidelines but they all ultimately follow this core principle established within the source material.

The Walking Dead went above and beyond, with arcs that extended far longer than their comic book counterparts. Take the Governor (David Morrissey), for example: while it may have been originally covered in a few issues of the comics, his story was stretched to cover entire seasons! That said, certain episodes could have easily amalgamated more content rather than focusing solely on an individual character – nevertheless, these storylines did still contribute to the overall narrative arc. It is always intriguing to explore a character’s motivations, and The Walking Dead certainly had some gripping ones at the start. However, they eventually became uninteresting since the show failed to keep them compelling. By its conclusion, even casual viewers who watched it from the beginning would not have recognized it – there were far too many new characters dominating much of the screen time!

In conclusion, all that matters is the goal of zombie horror. The apocalypse in these stories isn’t meant to be everlasting; it’s rather a demonstration of how fast life dissipates, and this difference sets apart The Last Of Us from The Walking Dead. While TLoU encourages its characters to confront their problems and continue on with life, TWD stretches every moment out as far as possible until everything becomes jumbled up – there was no clear motive or outcome here other than walking between beauty and wickedness without any end result.

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