‘Chernobyl’ Director Johan Renck To Helm Pilot Episode Of HBO’s ‘The Last Of Us’ Adaptation

After becoming a critical and commercial hit at the end of the previous console cycle and cementing its status as one of video gaming’s definitive titles, The Last of Us was optioned by HBO earlier this year for a television adaptation. Now, Chernobyl director Johan Renck has revealed that he has signed on to be an executive producer on the series and will direct “at least the pilot episode.”

Renck revealed that he would once again be teaming up with Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin on The Last of Us during an interview with Discussing Film. In addition to helming the pilot and executive producing, Renck has seemingly left the door open for additional involvement in the horror series, as well as future collaborations with Mazin, who is executive producing and co-writing The Last of Us with Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann.

“I’m part of that series and I will be directing at least the pilot. Then we’ll see how it goes on further. I mean, both Craig and I, we are working with each other again and we will work with each other on other things because we like each other.”

The Last of Us video game, which was the brainchild of Druckmann and Bruce Straley, was a survival horror experience focused on the exploits of protagonists Joel, a smuggler, and Ellie, a teenage girl, as they travel across a post-apocalyptic U.S. several years after a mutated strain of the Cordyceps fungus had turned much of humankind into mindless, cannibalistic zombies.

The game drew praise for the depth of its story, its haunting atmosphere, the vocal performances of Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson in the lead roles, and its gameplay mechanics. It currently holds a critical score of 95 out of a possible 100 on the review aggregate site Metacritic.

As reported previously by The Inquisitr, its sequel, The Last of Us, Part II, is currently slated for a June 19 release on the PlayStation 4.

Meanwhile, IGN reported on Sunday that production on HBO’s The Last of Us series would not begin until after the second game has been released.

In addition to his work on Chernobyl, for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special in 2019, the 53-year-old Renck has previously directed episodes of Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, Halt and Catch Fire, and Bates Motel.

He is also a veteran director of music videos, having worked with the likes of Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Robbie Williams, Lana Del Rey, and The Cardigans, among others.