“You can’t make every person happy.”

Keep playing. You can win. The Last of Us On January 15, the blockbuster PlayStation game will premiere on HBO and HBO Max. Fans of the series will enjoy one of the best screen adaptations of a videogame. The nine-episode series sticks to the original 2013 game in its entirety, but the series already incorporates elements from the 2020 sequel. There’s plenty in between. The Last of Us And Part II of The Last of UsNeil Druckmann, the game designer, made an effort to diversify his postapocalyptic world. A pandemic had decimated a large portion of the population, and many survivors have become mindless zombies.

The show doesn’t wait for future seasons to reflect upon the current state of the world. In the series premiere, showrunner Craig Mazin — who developed the series with Druckmann — populates The Last of Us With the diverse cast that the game embraced later on. Pedro Pascal, the show’s star, is the show’s main man. He also travels through George Lucas’s far, distant galaxy. Mandalorian. Chilean actor Joel portrays the haunted protagonist who acts as the player’s primary avatar. In the original version, he is shown as a white character.

Although Pascal is loved by most, there are still some who dislike him. Last of Us players — many of whom also criticized The Last of Us Part II for its “woke politics” and emphasis on diversity — have logged derogatory comments on Reddit threads and social media. These same critics also took aim at some of the show’s other casting choicesThe game featured Nico Parker, a biracial actress who played Joel’s daughter Sarah. Sarah was also white.

When asked how he would react to any toxic critics, he said “This isn’t mine!” Last of UsPascal gives a simple, straight answer. Yahoo Entertainment was told by Pascal, “Sorry,” but he didn’t really mean it. “You can’t make everyone happy.”

Check out our interview with The Last of Us YouTube stars Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal

Pascal says that the game is “very, very innovative in its inclusionness.” “It’s really a way to honor the original source material, Neil and Craig have done casting and telling this story.”

Pascal’s Last of Us Bella Ramsey, Bella Ramsey’s co-star in the movie, has also been subject to pre-premiere backlash with purported fans complaining about her resemblance Ellie is the teenage girl who reluctantly accompanies Joel on a dangerous cross-country journey to an unknown destination. A game storyline that was released between The Last of Us And Part II of The Last of UsMazin has already revealed that Ellie was in love with Riley, her best friend (played in the series by Storm Reid), which is another aspect of Ellie’s story.

“It’s not a spoiler — Ellie’s a lesbian,” Mazin confirms. That’s the way it is. Neil was unable to see the benefit we had when we created the show. It’s all ours.”

Ramsey knew that it was important to preserve that aspect of Ellie’s identity. Fans were initially concerned about its absence from the series. Ramsey says, “That wasn’t going to be the case.” Game of Thrones Star, and added: “I wouldn’t have let that happen.” It’s part her identity and I like that the show doesn’t make it into something so big. Joel loves it. It’s her existence in the world, loving women. It’s worked really well, I think.”

Ellie uses she/her pronouns in the world of the series, while Ramsey can use both she/her or they/them off-screen. Ramsey answers the question of whether Ellie’s version might undergo a similar evolution over time. “The thing about pronouns is that I don’t mind any,” Ramsey says. “‘They’ can be cool, sometimes. Ellie isn’t this feminine girly kind of person. She exists and that’s how I feel. I don’t know what to do with myself. That’s Ellie’s uniqueness. You won’t notice a shift in her behavior: She’s just kind of existing, and that’s exactly what I want to do.

I was the person who initiated the drive to diversify the globe. The Last of UsDruckmann said that he was inspired from his own experiences as an Israeli-born, immigrant, now living and working here. “America has its challenges, but America’s greatest strength is its melting pot of people from every walk of life. It was crucial that the show captured that.”

Druckmann adds that sometimes fans can be misguided. He is referring to the more harmful aspects of the game’s fandom. “They hang on to superficial things, and think that if they change, it’s wrong. But I want to ask them: When was the first time you played the game? [you met] Was it Sarah’s relationship with Joel? [that affected you] Or that she had blonde hair. What’s more important than what’s less? “It was more important to capture their essence when casting them.”

Mazin said that Joel was the particular case. He wanted an actor who would “capture the weight of his years.” The PlayStation version of Joel can be controlled by players, which can make it appear that he is superhuman. He can fight infection monsters and heal in seconds using his handy medical kit. Pascal’s Joel on the other side is an ordinary man who has lived for many years in extraordinary circumstances. Time has taken its toll.

Mazin said, “We told Pedro, ‘We want to play your age.'” “Joel in real life is older than Pedro, and we wanted him to have bad knees, to run with a bit more effort, and to have trouble sitting and standing. He is not healed from a wound. It continues into the next episode. This was the most important thing to us.

Pascal said that it was not difficult to play the nonsuperhero Joel. He laughs and says that he is not capable of surviving the apocalypse. “I had no choice but to make my average character iconically loved.” It worked!

Ramsey says that Joel and Ellie were terrible to portray. “I love how snarky and funny she is. [but] It was actually quite difficult to be snarky when you were with me,” Pascal admits, before adding with pitch-perfect snark to Pascal: “You’re all fine.”

Pascal smiles and says, “Bella’s one the most kind people I’ve ever met,” It’s amazing to know that you have an Ellie inside of you. It’s there!”

The Last of Us Premieres January 15th on HBO and HBO Max