Spoilers below for anyone who hasn’t yet watched the series premiere for HBO’s The Last of Us, as well as anyone who doesn’t want to be spoiled on the video game’s opening.
At long last, video game fans and TV audiences were able to witness the majesty that is HBO’s The Last of Us, with Chernobyl’s Craig Mazin and the game’s co-writer and director Neil Druckmann delivering an adaptation that remains faithful to the source while still expanding the world and its characters in logical ways. The show’s talented cast is led in part by Pedro Pascal as Joel as the ever-gruff survivor Joel, whose tragic backstory serves as the series premiere’s prologue, hinging on the super-depressing and easily avoidable death of his daughter Sarah. The tragic character was portrayed by Reminiscence’s Nico Parker, who talked with CinemaBlend about expanding Sarah’s limited storyline for TV, as well as bonding with co-star Pascal.
Nico Parker is no stranger to starring in live-action adaptations, having served as the mindful youth in Tim Burton’s Dumbo remake, but The Last of Us definitely isn’t a Disney tale. The horror drama’s flashback opening (following the news broadcast) is similar to the game’s in that it takes place on Joel’s birthday, but starts off a bit earlier in the day, giving viewers more time with Sarah before the inevitable downturn happens. And by all means, the father and daughter relationship could have come out of a completely different project, given how bright and non-frightening things are at first. Unfortunately, the intensity ramps up as soon as the infected neighbors come into play, and Sarah’s time in this world is cut short by an obedient turd of a soldier, thus cementing Joel’s cynical and grizzled future. It was hard enough reliving that moment in the excellent 2022 remake/remaster, and was doubly tough to watch in live-action.
As seen in the video above, Nico Parker talked to CinemaBlend about being able to give viewers more of Sarah before pulling the rug out from under everyone, saying:
I think it was - because, you know, I knew that going into it; I know what the character is, I know what happened to the character - but I think what was so exciting about it is that you get to see more of her, and you get to see more of her bond with Joel. I think what the game does so beautifully is, so quickly and with so much immediacy, you already care. Just off the bat, you care about Sarah and you care about Joel, and you care about the both of them and their relationship, which is what makes the end of that so gut-wrenching. So to have more time to be able to do that was just like a dream. To expand on that and show more of that and, if anything, to hopefully make it even more depressing than it is, was wonderful.
This obviously wasn’t the kind of role for an actor to vie for with hopes of a long and lasting gig, but Parker still embraced portraying the short-lived character, knowing the importance and power of bringing Sarah to life. Since TV audiences are going to be watching Pedro Pascal’s Joel two decades later, having to find ways to bond with Bella Ramsey’s all-important Ellie, it was all the more important to really drill home their father-daughter bond so that it’s always in viewers’ minds exactly what he lost. Though Mazin and Druckmann have stated the series won’t be as violent as the games were, this was a necessarily brutal way to kick things off.
Nico Parker On Bonding With Pedro Pascal
Speaking of bonds, gamers know that Joel and Ellie won’t be meshing well right away, for all the reasons, and that it will take a bit longer for them to lower their exterior shells to allow the other in. But that wasn’t at all the situation for Joel and Sarah, whose on-screen relationship is immediately warm, casual, and loving. As fans of Pedro Pascal’s might have expected (and hoped), it wasn’t a stretch for Nico Parker to pretend to adore him. In her words:
I mean, like, I genuinely adore him as a human being outside of working and filming. I think he's just one of the greatest, really. He's just the best friend and human, and I love him a lot. And so because of that, it didn't make it that difficult to kind of like have this relationship, because I was just like, 'I love you, and you're amazing.' And so because we got on well, I think then the kind of way that that translates - hopefully, obviously, fingers crossed - on screen, it's kind of easier for Joel and Sarah because me and Pedro already were just like, oh, friends. Yeah, so I think creating and establishing that bond was easy.
Parker also spoke to the general strangeness of the gig, in that actors often have to fictionalize entire life histories with other actors that they may have only just met the week before. Here's how she put it:
But it's always weird, because you've known them for a week, and you're acting as if they've been your dad for your last 14 years and you love them very much and whatever. And then like emulating a routine that you've never done in your life, their daily routine, is also very strange. But he made it an absolute joy.
Thankfully, Nico Parker and Pedro Pascal's off-screen connection was strong enough that it popped with electricity in the show from the very start. I can only hope that the show's creators have another joyful flashback scene or two with Sarah to bring in later in the season. But that might be a bit too optimistic for this universe.
The Last of Us airs new episodes every Sunday night on HBO, and is available to stream live with an HBO Max subscription. Head to our 2023 TV premiere schedule to find out all the other big shows heading to the small screen throughout the coming year.
