The Last Of Us Fan Film Is A Heartbreaking Spinoff
In case anyone was worried the upcoming The Last of Us series wouldn't live up to the legacy of its gaming counterpart (we weren't), a short fan film has delivered its own twist on the story of the Cordyceps outbreak and looks like its a Sony official.
While the main cast of HBO's The Last of Us series has snagged Game of Thrones alumni Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsay, this fan project focuses on a different corner of the outbreak. The Last of Us fan fiction and fan films are nothing new, however, Stay adds more heartbreak than most. Don't say we didn't warn you.
What is The Last of Us fan film?
Stay is the brainchild of Joshua Toonen, who took influence from his time working on the likes of Star Wars: the Rise of Skywalker. Teaming up with around 40 other filmmakers and talent inducing VFX artists and special effects makeup artists, Stay feels like it's been plucked from the mind of Neil Druckmann himself.
The intense fan film is only seven minutes long and is a faithful adaptation of the games while telling a wholly unique story. Here, Stay starts with a familiar scene of Ellie playing her guitar, before the action quickly moves to original characters, Sean and Emily.
Delving into their lives before the mould-ravaged apocalypse turned the world upside down, Stay also follows the pair on their own mission to survive the outbreak. There are some amazing effects in play here, with particular praise being directed toward Toonen's imagining of the infamous Clickers. We only hope HBO's The Last of Us series looks like Stay.
What do we know about The Last of Us TV series?
Of course, all eyes are on Craig Mazin's official The Last of Us series - which will finally bring Naughty Dog's series to the small screen. Although there were originally plans for a The Last of Us movie, these evolved into the live-action series that's on the way.
Away from Pascal and Ramsay as Joel Miller and Ellie, The Last of Us is shaping up to be a typically HBO ensemble of Hollywood stars. Some were disappointed that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Gabriel Luna was cast as Tommy Miller, however, original voice actor Jeffrey Pierce will at least get to rejoin this wild world in some capacity.
Heartbreak and loss are at the forefront of both The Last of Us games and Stay. We're sure the series will follow the same path, so you'd better have a box of tissues ready. As for Sean and Emily, we say Mazin find room for them in his version of The Last of Us.