It was 2014 when the first adaptation of The Last of Us was announced. Screen Gems, the studio behind all of the Resident Evil movies and also dozens of other horror films, was going to bring The Last of Us to the big screen. Of course, that never happened. Instead, the movie eventually ended up becoming a TV show that landed at HBO, and the rest is excellent storytelling.

The first season of HBO's The Last of Us is GameSpot's TV show of the year for 2023. Not only did it change the proverbial game by becoming easily the best live-action adaptation of a beloved video game, but it expanded the world in interesting ways and made us fall in love with new versions of Joel and Ellie.

Played to perfection by Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, respectively, this new living version of Ellie and Joel are an emotionally powerful duo. When you then include the characters who were greatly expanded on for the show--Bill, Frank, Sam, Henry, and Riley, for instance--this show becomes overloaded with incredible character work from everyone involved.