For more than a decade we have been immersed in a transmedia revolution that is affecting all the cultural products we consume. Since Marvel created its Cinematic Universe through several movies that later ended up becoming Disney Plus series, the major studios are realizing that franchises have much more potential to be exploited beyond what was expected.
Disney has exploited this to the hilt, extrapolating universes such as Star Wars to the point of saturation. But the premiere of The Last of Us, an HBO Max series that has triumphed with both critics and audiences in a way never seen before, could mean a change of perspective and a transmedia revolution.
The Last of Us, or how to adapt a videogame correctly
Transmedia storytelling is a type of storytelling that spans multiple media and platforms, in a form of expansion of the same universe that collaborates and interconnects between resources. It is basically what we see with Pokémon or any other children’s brand of this style. That is, the same universe that gives rise to video games, movies, series, merchandising and all kinds of complementary products.
Until now, we have been used to two types of transmedia. On the one hand, there is the narrative used by Marvel with its movies and series, which is based on extrapolating a universe on different platforms, referencing each other and creating a shared world of many stories.
And, on the other hand, we find ourselves in the convoluted field of adaptations. In reality, an adaptation of, for example, a video game to a movie, is not something transmedia, since it is simply based on telling the same story in another medium. However, we have already seen some attempts to play with transmedia in adaptations such as Assassin’s Creed, which tells a new story in film that does not literally adapt a video game.
But, to be honest, the latter has rarely worked out well. Especially in the field of video game adaptations, we are used to banal and meaningless adaptations that neither fans of the original games nor new audiences like. Just ask Uwe Boll.
But The Last of Us marks a before and after in this trend, and it has done so without necessarily being part of either of these two blocks. The HBO Max series has proven to be a faithful adaptation to the video game, as expected thanks to the participation of Neil Druckman -co-director of the original game- in the fiction.
However, it has also been a unique transmedia exercise. Let me explain. While the narrative has been structured, basically, based on what happens in the game, Druckman and Craig Mazin have taken advantage of the series format to give it a broader dimension. In the series they did not need to imprint the constant gameplay of the game, which they have used to provide a greater narrative to the series: conversations that were not there or parallel stories such as the one in chapter 3 have provided unique features to the story that complement the already great game.
In exchange, of course, they didn’t have the hours that players put into the original title or the feeling of literally being inside the protagonists. But, knowing this and seeking to contribute something more, they have managed to create a perfect transmedia adaptation. That is to say, it is the same experience that is complemented on different platforms through details that are perfectly exploited in other media.
A transmedia revolution that we have been nurturing for years
This is something that we have actually seen for a long time now with literary adaptations to the big screen. Although it has always been said that “the book is better”, the Harry Potter films have the music of John Williams or the performances of the British cast that manage to complement the experience. And if we talk about Hogwarts Legacy, three quarters of the same.
There are also other recent precedents that go along similar lines to The Last of Us. Arcane, the Netflix series adapting the League of Legends universe, is a perfect example of how a game can be adapted. In this case, however, they had an advantage: the narrative of LoL has never been explored in the game as it is a MOBA, and in the series they can explore its lore to the fullest.
But these precedents lay a foundation that wants to continue soon. Amazon Prime Video will release a God of War series in 2024, and Netflix is preparing a BioShock movie. Add to that the anime adaptations that continue to move forward, such as Netflix’s One Piece series – which many of us dread – and the trend couldn’t be clearer.
Even so, far away are the times when adapting an anime or a video game was, yes or yes, synonymous with failure. And let’s hope that The Last of Us has served to open the eyes of producers who, in the past, believed that video games were a minor art.
