The Last of Us showrunners explain their reasoning for replacing Pittsburgh with Kansas City

Warning: Light spoilers for The Last of Us to follow.

The Last of Us is quickly shaping up to be so much more than one of the best video game adaptations we’ve ever seen, with the combined efforts of Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, and the rest of the creative team playing all the right cards in pursuit of delivering an adaptation that’s as fresh as it is faithful.

Indeed, after just four episodes, we’ve already witnessed just how powerful a story can get when presented in a medium that’s actually designed to tell stories, with a special nod to “Long, Long Time” and its history-maker of a love story, and Melanie Lynskey’s chilling debut as the series-exclusive character Kathleen, who’s sure to shake up the narrative excitingly all her own.

But one of the smaller and subsequently more curious changes from the game was changing the city that was taken over by the hunters; had this been a one-to-one adaptation from the game, Joel and Ellie would be navigating the streets of Pittsburgh by now. Instead, however, they’ll be fighting their way through a post-apocalyptic Kansas City.

It’s a change that seems so inconsequential, one may wonder why showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann would make it in the first place. But, on the fourth episode of HBO Max’s official The Last of Us podcast on Spotify, the duo revealed a number of subtle nuances that eventually caused them to make the decision, such as how geography would more easily play into the story’s upcoming beats, but mostly how their filming locations in Alberta didn’t lend themselves to Pittsburgh’s aesthetic as well as they would have liked.

What it came down to was the “Pittsburgh-ness” of Pittsburgh wasn’t necessarily important, and it looked closer to Kansas City. It was just harder to manufacture Pittsburgh in that place.

In any case, we’re all too happy to continue following Joel and Ellie no matter where their journey takes them, and with a second season having been confirmed by HBO Max, there looks to be plenty of ground to cover.

The Last of Us is available to stream on HBO Max, with new episodes released every Sunday until the season’s conclusion on March 12.

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