Fans of The Last of Us noticed that the sniper sequence in episode 5 of the television adaptation was different from that of the video game. Why this change in the series? Warning, spoilers.
Warning, spoilers. It is advisable to have seen episode 5 of The Last of Us before continuing to read this article.
Created by Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin, The Last of Us is the television adaptation of the famous video game of the same name. A true phenomenon, the series has conquered neophytes as much as fans, even if many changes have been made with the video game work.
This is the case in episode 5, entitled “Endure and Survive”, which takes up a cult sequence from the video game: Joel’s sniper mission. After escaping the infected from the sewers, Joel, Ellie, Henry and Sam pass through a residential suburb where they are pursued by Hunters. They end up in a cul-de-sac and are targeted by a sniper posted high up.
After sneaking through several buildings, Joel manages to overpower the sniper and take his place to then eliminate the rest of the Hunters so that Ellie, Henry and Sam manage to sneak in and join him.
In the official podcast dedicated to The Last of Usco-showrunner Craig Mazin explained that it was difficult to recreate the same intensity of this sequence on screen: “Watching the sequence on screen, there was a lot of dodging and riposting, and dodging and riposting. That’s not the point of the show. But I was obsessed with the idea of the cul-de-sac and by the idea of the sniper”.
Why the sniper sequence in the game is different in the series
And indeed, we find these two main ideas in episode 5 of the series. On one side, Joel (Pedro Pascal), Ellie (Bella Ramsey), Henry (Lamar Johnson) and Sam (Keivonn Woodard) come to a dead end and they’re chased by Hunters, led by new character Kathleen. (Melanie Lynskey).
On the other, Joel reaches a high building where a sniper was posted and he takes the place of this sniper to kill Hunters and save Ellie, Henry and Sam. are also in the game!
To bring more intensity and flavor to the sniper sequence in the series, Craig Mazin chose to bring a little more emotion and sadness to the story, including bringing Joel to the gunslinger position more quickly, that he made bad for a simple reason: “The answer is that he’s really old. He can’t see. And it’s sad because when you’re dealing with a citizens’ brigade, that’s often what you’re dealing with”.
HBO
The co-showrunner elaborates on his idea by explaining that Kathleen’s militia is not made up of “trained soldiers, they are normal people” : “And this guy has seen a lot of things because — let’s say he’s 80 years old. That means for sixty years of his life he’s lived in a perfectly normal world and the last twenty years have been horrible. He There’s sadness in there. Only God knows how much heartbreak he’s been through.”
In the HBO series, Joel meets this old gunman and doesn’t wish to hurt him. He tries to make him understand that they don’t need to come to a lethal outcome and that he needs to put his gun down. Unfortunately, the old man, who has nothing more to lose, tries to kill Joel, in vain.
This modification, simple but relevant, makes it possible to adapt in an ingenious way a memorable sequence of the video game, while bringing it even more emotion and humanity.
The Last of Us series is available on Prime Video.