HBO’s The Last of Us makes history with Emmy nominations
The nominations for the Emmys 2023 are up and HBO’s The Last of Us is already one of the big winners with a total of 24 nominations. Even if the show based on Naughty Dog’s video game IP wouldn’t take home a single one of these awards, it’s already written history by being considered for them – no other live-action adaptation of a video game has ever come this far.
Among other categories, The Last of Us is nominated for best drama series, competing against the likes of Better Call Saul, Succession, Andor, and House of the Dragon. Both Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, who play the lead roles of Joel and Ellie, are nominated for best lead actor and best lead actress in a drama series. The show’s guest roles and several technical aspects are up for awards as well including directing, casting, costuming, and music.
Our own Kirk McKeand called HBO’s The Last of Us the first video game adaptation that can stand on its own feet in his review of the series, emphasizing a point that many industry insiders have also stressed: It’s a brilliant character drama regardless of whether you’ve played the game or not.
The first season of Arcane, set in the universe of League of Legends, which ran on Netflix, won the Emmy for best animated program in 2022, setting the stage for The Last of Us’ remarkable success in the live-action department.
Overall, 2023 has been a good year for video game adaptations so far, with The Super Mario Bros. Movie grossing around $1.3 billion at the box office and becoming one of the best video game movies of all time – though Mario’s fun big screen adventure likely won’t see the same amount of award considerations as The Last of Us.
Aside from The Last of Us’ triumph, the Emmy nominations for 2023 contained another huge surprise.
