The Last of Us - the game vs TV show: How HBO series compares to best-selling ... trends now
As The Last of Us captivates audiences and critics around the world, with some already proclaiming it as one of the best shows that will be aired this year.
HBO appears to have struck gold with the show, which follows a smuggler trying to escort a teenage girl across a post-apocalyptic Unites States following a global pandemic that has turned millions of people into fungus-infected zombies.
The first episode been seen by more than 22million viewers since it premiered in the United States - the network's second largest debut since 2010 behind House of the Dragon - and it has already been renewed for a second season.
The series is based on an immensely popular PlayStation game of the same name, and some critics have already hailed it as the best video game adaptation of all time.
HBO's The Last of Us follows Pedro Pascal's Joel as he escorts Bella Ramsey's Ellie (pictured above) through a post-apocalyptic United States
The series is based on a video game of the same name which has broadly the same plot. Pictured above: Ellie and Joel in the video game
Adapting video games onto TV or film has always proved challenging, with some proving more successful than others.
The Last of Us video game, which was released in 2013 by publisher Naughty Dog, earned accolades and received widespread praise for its storyline, visuals, gameplay and characters.
HBO bought the rights to adapt the property after a joint pitch by Craig Mazin, who had directed hit show Chernobyl, and Neil Druckmann, who was a writer and creative director of the original game.
Many fans were eager to see how the show would translate onto the screen, including which actors would portray the characters they had grown to know and love.
So how do the characters from the video game stack up compared to their TV versions?
Joel Miller (Pedro Pascal)
Joel Miller (pictured left in the game and right in the TV series) is tasked with escorting a teenage girl across a post-apocalyptic United States in the show
Chilean-American actor Pedro Pascal first got his big break in another HBO series, Game of Thrones, where he portrayed the swaggering and charismatic Oberyn Martell.
In the series he plays Joel Miller, the smuggler tasked with escorting a teenage girl across the United States and protecting her from fungus-infected humans, as well as raiders and vigilantes.
Pascal claimed he ignored instructions from producers not to play the game before shooting the series and admitted he had never heard of it before getting the role and he just wanted to work with HBO and Mazin.
He told Wired: 'I hadn't heard of the game. Their instruction was 'don't play the game'. I ignored them. I tried to play the game, and I was very, very bad at it. But my nephew was fantastic.
'It was important to me to play notes that were directly related to what was originally in the game - physically, visually, vocally.'
Ellie Williams (Bella Ramsey)
Ellie (pictured left in the video game and right in the TV series) is a 14-year-old orphan who harbours a potentially world-changing secret in The Last of Us
The central character of the overarching The Last of Us series, Ellie is first introduced to players and viewers as a 14-year-old orphan who needs to be escorted across the United States by Joel.
In the series she is played by Bella Ramsey, who like he co-star Pascal, got her big break on HBO show Game of Thrones, where she played no-nonsense young noblewoman Lyanna Mormont.
The Nottingham-born thespian, who has also appeared in BBC's His Dark Materials and CBBC's The Worst Witch, has left critics impressed with her performance, but revealed she almost didn't audition for the role.
Ramsey, who earlier this month came out as gender fluid, told the Hollywood Reporter: 'I seriously considered that maybe I don't want to be famous so I'm not going to do this show because it's going propel me to a place I don't want to go to in terms of being seen and being
