When Joel meets Ellie in the opening act of The Last of Us, it’s a turning point for the character. After years of blaming himself for the death of his daughter during an outbreak that turned most of world’s population into flesh-eating monsters, Joel has a chance at redemption when he’s hired to smuggle Ellie out of the Boston Quarantine Zone and all the way to Salt Lake City, Utah, where a rebel group believes it has found the cure to the virus that has engulfed the planet. It’s one of the most beloved tales in gaming, which is why it was only a matter of time before someone tried to turn it into a TV series.

The series comes from HBO, The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann, and executive producer Craig Mazin (Chernobyl), and will tackle the events of the first game, re-telling the story that first captivated PlayStation fans in 2013. Bringing the game’s main duo to life will be Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian) as Joel and Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones) as Ellie, with Anna Torv (Fringe) joining them as Joel’s smuggling partner Tess.

Filming is already underway on the streets of Edmonton, Alberta in Canada, which have been turned into post-apocalyptic Boston for the start of the shoot. Indeed, it seems like the show is sticking closely to the source material, opening this adventure with Joel, Ellie, and Tess trying to find a way out of the city and on there way to Utah.

The fact that The Last of Us is being filmed out in the open means that several onlookers have been able to record video and snap photos of the trio of actors performing their first scenes for the show. Below, you can see Joel and Tess leading Ellie through empty, leaf-covered streets, with Joel carrying an assault rifle in case any infected, bandits, or FEDRA soldiers show up…

Danofgeek