Naughty Dog co-president Neil Druckmann appeared on Thursday's Summer Game Fest broadcast to tell fans shooting on the Last of Us television adaptation would wrap Friday, and hinted the series would premiere next year.
Druckmann, who is co-writing and executive producing the show with "Chernobyl" creator Craig Mazin, said his co-writer was on set for the wrap.
"Craig is up there right now kind of wrapping it all up, so it's pretty close, closer than you might think," he said.
He went on to reveal a new image from the show featuring Joel and Ellie in a museum that appeared in a level from the first Last of Us game. It's the first officially released, high quality image to show Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey in costume as Joel and Ellie, and is drawn from an episode Druckmann himself directed. (Previously, fans had survived on leaks from the set.)
"I really have to talk about Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, and not only directing them but seeing them do all the other episodes, they have thrown themselves at these roles for a whole year.
"Watching the nuance they bring to these characters, their relationship on and off camera, I couldn't help but think about Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson [who played Joel and Ellie in the game]. It felt so similar to the chemistry those two actors had when we made the game. And it really feels like this is going to be something special and I will say, this will be the most authentic video game adaptation yet."
Speaking of Baker and Johnson: The two actors joined Druckmann on the broadcast to reveal they would appear in the show, but stopped short of saying what their roles would be.
In other Last of Us news, Sony officially revealed the (previously leaked) remake of the original Last of Us, titled The Last of Us Part 1. It'll hit PlayStation 5 in September, followed by a PC release down the line.
The Last of Us isn't the only TV adaptation Sony has in the works. Shows based on God of War and Horizon Zero Dawn are both in development, and a report published yesterday revealed some early information about the Horizon adaptation's plot.