Ben Mendelsohn Is Just as Protective of ‘The Last of Us’ as the Rest of Us

My love for the incredible Ben Mendelsohn continues to grow. The actor, known for roles in Captain Marvel and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, is apparently a huge fan of The Last of Us. How do I know this? Because he took to Instagram to not only share his affection for Pedro Pascal, who is playing Joel Miller in the upcoming HBO series, but to also then tell his friend that he misses him and to not “f*ck” up the adaptation.

First Mendolsohn wrote “Can’t wait pasc” on Pascal’s Instagram post, where Pascal had teased a poster for the show. Mendolsohn followed that up with a larger comment about his love of the game. “But pasc. Better not have fucked it up. It’s probably the greatest console game of all time. you don’t f things up, and I’m v excited for the little I’ve seen of your traveling companion… BUT. THIS ONE. THEY BETTER NOT HAVE HALF STEPPED ! Lot of us carry that game close Trailer looks v v promising. Miss ya.”

And honestly, this is relatable, because we feel the same way about The Last of Us, although our friends are not making multi-million dollar projects about our favorite properties. (Maybe one day) If I could text all celebrities about the things they’d adapting? Oh boy would that be a time.

The power of The Last of Us

To set the scene, I’m bad at video games. Mainly because I just smash keys. But my wonderful and dear friend Sophie Martin played through the game for me on her Twitch stream so that I could see the story and when I tell you I cried, I meant it. It made me doubly as excited for the show because the story was just so good and I wanted to see how they’d bring it into a live-action format.

It also made me protective of the story. Now, with the trailers I’ve seen from the HBO series, they’re doing some scenes that are shot for shot from the game and it is truly emotional to see Joel running with Sarah in his arms or to hear Pedro Pascal talk to Bella Ramsey’s Ellie about pain and loss.

All of that is just in the trailer and has proven emotional for fans of the game. Mendelsohn sharing his love for this game while also telling his friend he better do it justice? That’s the mark of a true friend, to be honest. Because, come on. If I was taking on something as big as The Last of Us, I’d expect the same from my friends. Hell, I even go through that with my friend Sophie, who played the game for me. She’ll yell at me about my editorial work. So Ben, this is relatable. And also though I do love that Mendelsohn said “you don’t f things up” to Pascal because he’s right, he really doesn’t.

I personally hope for me (and for Mendelsohn) that The Last of Us is as good as I think it is going to be because, if I am being honest, it’s been a long time since something has made me cry from the trailers from the jump like The Last of Us has accomplished.

(image: HBO)