Before HBO’s The Last Of Us, An Entirely Different Adaptation Was Proposed

Naughty Dog's first effort to adapt The Last of Us for the screen was not as an HBO TV show, but a movie, a fact that recently began doing the rounds again on social media. Like with many Hollywood productions, The Last of Us had a tumultuous, long development period as a movie before it was ultimately abandoned in favor of what is now a hit series. The original movie pitch People across X recently discovered a post from Sony Pictures in 2014 declaring that The Last of Us was "soon to be a major motion picture."  This was a real, studio-sponsored image, not a fan mock-up. Williams, who was 17 at the time, also joked at the time that she hoped Sony would make the movie quickly because, "If they make it in 30 years, they can't have a 40-year-old Ellie." Kaitlyn Dever was also considered for the role of Ellie in the film , and, spoiler alert: Dever would go on to play Ellie's adversary, Abby, in the HBO TV show.