On the set of The Last of Us TV show adaptation, one word was strictly forbidden.
The Last of Us game, which fully embraced a more cinematic approach to gaming storytelling while maintaining incredibly strong, enjoyable, and interesting gameplay, is one of the most impactful video games in history.
It was a pretty effective blending of the two media. Hollywood saw its success and immediately approved an adaptation of it.
But long before it became an HBO series, a Sam Raimi-directed movie was in development.
The creation of this retelling took a long time, but it was well worth the effort given the accuracy.
Part of it was something rather simple but ultimately impactful – the word “zombie” was forbidden on set in order to maintain the game’s level of realism.
They are not zombies, despite the fact that The Last of Us takes place in a world where infected individuals wander around seeking to bite and infect others.
No matter how similar they may be at first glance, making that distinction was crucial.
The Last of Us cinematographer Eben Bolter was the one to reveal that the word wasn’t allowed at all on set while pointing out that the program is not just another “zombie show” in an interview with The Credits.
Bolter revealed that “We weren’t allowed to say the Z word on set. It was a banned word. They were just the Infected. We were not a zombie show. Of course, there is tension building and jump scares, but the show’s truly about our characters; The Infected are an obstacle that they have to deal with. For example in Episode 3, Ellie hears an Infected trapped under rubble. Initially, she is scared, but then you see her grow in confidence, cutting open the Infected and looking at the fibers. Through that interest, you can see what the Infected means in Ellie’s own life. She was born into this world that is completely gone to hell because of this and now, maybe she has a solution to this thing inside her. We see Bella’s performance as she goes from wonder to hate and you begin to think, wow what is this girl capable of? There is darkness and anger in there. So, it is character first and then just tell the story.”
This makes a lot of sense! The infected are indeed not the main focus of The Last of Us. Anyone who has played the game or even non-gamers who have been watching the HBO show every week shouldn’t be surprised that it is a show more about humanity than anything else, including flesh-eating monsters.