Terminator star joins The Last of Us cast

Gabriel Luna has been cast as Tommy in HBO’s eagerly anticipated TV version of hit video game The Last of Us. Luna played Gabriel in the 2019 sci-fi sequel Terminator: Dark Fate, while he’s probably best known for his work as Ghost Rider in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The Last of Us first hit shelves in 2013 courtesy of developer Naughty Dog, and the tale of a mutant fungus wiping out most of America was both a critical and commercial hit.

Cast for the series is shaping up nicely, with Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones, His Dark Materials) playing Ellie, the teenage girl whose apparent immunity may result in humanity’s survival, and Pedro Pascal (Game of Thrones, The Mandalorian) cast as Joel, the smuggler charged with the task of transporting her to safety.

Bella Ramsey (pictured) is set to play Ellie. (Picture: HBO)

Tommy is Joel’s younger brother, a former soldier who Variety reports “hasn’t lost his sense of idealism or hope for a better world.”
Chernobyl showrunner Craig Mazin is both writing and executive producing the series alongside Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann, while Kantemir Balagov will direct the first episode.

As for the tone of the series, Druckmann recently told IGN to expect less action and more drama. Speaking at SXSW, Druckman said: “In the game, there’s so much action you have to have to train the player about mechanics. You have to have more violence and more spectacle to some degree than you would need on a TV show because you don’t need to train people on how to use a gun. So that’s something that’s been really different, and HBO’s been great in pushing us to move away from hardcore action and focus more on the drama of the character. Some of my favorite episodes so far have deviated greatly from the story, and I can’t wait for people to see them.”