We are less than two weeks from the premiere of HBO's adaptation of The Last of Us and you could say fans of the franchise are getting pretty hyped. With Mandalorian star Pedro Pascal as Joel and Game of Thrones standout Bella Ramsey as Ellie, this post-apocalyptic zombie drama has all the makings of a hopefully instant classic--something that is quite rare for video games brought to life as movies or TV shows. There's no doubt, though, that fans are going to be worried about changes being made to the story. And yes, changes are made--but with good reason--over the course of the first season, which covers the first game.

Speaking to GameSpot, TV Guide, and Metacritic, The Last of Us game writer and co-director Neil Druckmann--who is also a writer and executive producer on the show--was quick to explain. "There's things that work in the game that would just not work in the show," he said. "The game is about--sometimes--immersion and these continuous sequences through continuous space and time to get you to feel like you're that character. And the show, if we were to shoot it exactly like that, it would just get boring, the violence would get rote in a way that it doesn't in the game because there’s certain mechanics and stuff that really affect you."

It's hard to argue with Druckmann's reasoning here. While the games are a fascinating and creepy dive into Joel and Ellie's experiences in a zombie-filled wasteland, a camera simply following them around while they kill off clickers and anyone that gets in their way can only be entertaining for so long when you're not personally controlling their actions. What about the story changes, though? For showrunner Craig Mazin (Chernobyl), that was something they were constantly working hard to figure out.