HBO Turning PlayStation Game, 'The Last of us', into TV Series

People wander in front of the PlayStation posters at the 24th Electronic Expo, or E3 2018, in Los Angeles. (Getty Images)
People wander in front of the PlayStation posters at the 24th Electronic Expo, or E3 2018, in Los Angeles. (Getty Images)
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HBO Turning PlayStation Game, 'The Last of us', into TV Series

People wander in front of the PlayStation posters at the 24th Electronic Expo, or E3 2018, in Los Angeles. (Getty Images)
People wander in front of the PlayStation posters at the 24th Electronic Expo, or E3 2018, in Los Angeles. (Getty Images)

The studio and game developer Naughty Dog revealed HBO plans to turn its popular PlayStation game, "The Last of Us", into a television series.

According to the German news agency, the adaptation is being led by Craig Mazin, creator of HBO series Chernobyl, and Neil Druckmann, the creative director of the game.

"Neil Druckmann is without question the finest storyteller working in the video game medium and ‘The Last of Us’ is his magnum opus. Getting a chance to adapt this breathtaking work of art has been a dream of mine for years," Mazin said in a press release.

The CNET website reported that the TV series will cover the events of the original game.

Released in 2013, The Last of Us is a survival horror game with players following the adventure of Joel and Ellie in a post-apocalyptic US. Naughty Dog took a different approach to the apocalypse by getting rid of zombies and, instead, using a mutant Cordyceps fungus as the source of the country's downfall.

The result was infected humans becoming violent hosts to the fungus, with the non-infected banding together to survive. As the case with many post-apocalyptic stories, sometimes it's other humans who are the real monsters.

Joel is a middle-aged man who lost his family when the infection began 20 years before the events of the game. He has since become a smuggler and has been given the task of chaperoning 14-year-old Ellie to the base of a rebel group called the Fireflies. Things don't go according to plan as Joel learns more about Ellie and realizes how important she really is.



Disasters Loom over South Asia with Forecast of Hotter, Wetter Monsoon

The Himalayan mountain range of Annapurna and Mount Machapuchare (top, C) are pictured from Nepal's Pokhara on June 7, 2025. (Photo by Prakash MATHEMA / AFP)
The Himalayan mountain range of Annapurna and Mount Machapuchare (top, C) are pictured from Nepal's Pokhara on June 7, 2025. (Photo by Prakash MATHEMA / AFP)
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Disasters Loom over South Asia with Forecast of Hotter, Wetter Monsoon

The Himalayan mountain range of Annapurna and Mount Machapuchare (top, C) are pictured from Nepal's Pokhara on June 7, 2025. (Photo by Prakash MATHEMA / AFP)
The Himalayan mountain range of Annapurna and Mount Machapuchare (top, C) are pictured from Nepal's Pokhara on June 7, 2025. (Photo by Prakash MATHEMA / AFP)

Communities across Asia's Himalayan Hindu Kush region face heightened disaster risks this monsoon season with temperatures and rainfall expected to exceed normal levels, experts warned on Thursday.

Temperatures are expected to be up to two degrees Celsius hotter than average across the region, with forecasts for above-average rains, according to a monsoon outlook released by Kathmandu-based International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) on Wednesday.

"Rising temperatures and more extreme rain raise the risk of water-induced disasters such as floods, landslides, and debris flows, and have longer-term impacts on glaciers, snow reserves, and permafrost," Arun Bhakta Shrestha, a senior adviser at ICIMOD, said in a statement.

The summer monsoon, which brings South Asia 70-80 percent of its annual rainfall, is vital for agriculture and therefore for the livelihoods of millions of farmers and for food security in a region that is home to around two billion people.

However, it also brings destruction through landslides and floods every year. Melting glaciers add to the volume of water, while unregulated construction in flood-prone areas exacerbates the damage.

"What we have seen over the years are also cascading disasters where, for example, heavy rainfall can lead to landslides, and landslides can actually block rivers. We need to be aware about such possibilities," Saswata Sanyal, manager of ICIMOD's Disaster Risk Reduction work, told AFP.

Last year's monsoon season brought devastating landslides and floods across South Asia and killed hundreds of people, including more than 300 in Nepal.

This year, Nepal has set up a monsoon response command post, led by its National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.

"We are coordinating to stay prepared and to share data and alerts up to the local level for early response. Our security forces are on standby for rescue efforts," said agency spokesman Ram Bahadur KC.

Weather-related disasters are common during the monsoon season from June to September but experts say climate change, coupled with urbanization, is increasing their frequency and severity.

The UN's World Meteorological Organization said last year that increasingly intense floods and droughts are a "distress signal" of what is to come as climate change makes the planet's water cycle ever more unpredictable.