HBO’s The Last Of Us Sparks Hopes Of Red Dead Redemption Series
Following the runaway success of HBO's The Last of Us, fans are asking for a live-action Red Dead Redemption series to tell John Marston's story.
26th Jan 2023 11:32
HBO | Rockstar Games
HBO’s The Last Of Us Sparks Hopes Of Red Dead Redemption Series
Following the runaway success of HBO's The Last of Us, fans are asking for a live-action Red Dead Redemption series to tell John Marston's story.
26th Jan 2023 11:32
HBO | Rockstar Games
Yee-haw, the Wild West is calling us for what could be television's next big live-action adaptation. As The Last of Us "infects" us with its gripping storytelling, we're ready to saddle up and bring another video game to our screens.
We'd argue that the video game curse was already smashed, but as HBO's The Last of Us hammers it home, there's a renewed interest in which video game IPs could become the hottest topic of conversation around the water cooler.
Much like Naughty Dog's The Last of Us, Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption is widely held as one of the best games of all time - joined by Red Dead Redemption 2. It could be a money-maker for whoever picks it up, but will it happen?
Red Dead Fans Want A Live-Action Series
Craig Mazin's The Last of Us has been breaking records, and with video game adaptations back on top, fans have taken to Reddit to champion a live-action cowboy caper that could bring John Marston's epic yarn to life.
Cheering for the idea we could see someone like Anson Mount cast as Marston, one supporter said, "I'm all in - given it has the same level of quality and care given to the series.
"The story of RDR2 is amazing with beautifully written characters. A faithful screenplay could make for show far better than TLOU or any recent Western."
Another added, "Yes. Obtain the right director, core writing team, top cinematographer and you can have a multi-season series backed by HBO or Showtime.
"Find that right cast to fill in the core cast and you have yourself something that can work. TLOU works not only cause of the 'post apocalyptic'/zombie mode but look who is backing and handling the series."
However, one critic said, "No. TLOU is a much shorter and linear game, and RDR2's strengths are not limited to the main story, but to the many side missions and optional stuff you can do. You can't properly translate all that to the TV screen, at least easily."
According to HowLongtoBeat, 2010's Red Dead Redemption takes a hefty 26.5 hours to complete the main campaign and additional stories. This puts it ahead of The Last of Us' 17.5 hours, but what're a few extra episodes between friends?
Will There Be A Red Dead Redemption Series?
While there was plenty of support for Red Dead: The Series, others begged for it to be left alone amidst fears we'd get something like Paramount's Halo basically throwing the source material out of the window.
There were also valid arguments that Red Dead and its sequel are already cinematic enough without transferring them into live-action. We've seen enough video game adaptations fail to see this side of the story.
Before you get ahead of yourselves though, we doubt a Red Dead series is on the way - well, not if Rockstar has its way. The developer famously passed on a GTA movie with Eminem because the IP was bigger than anything that could be shown on screen.
Still, with Amazon's God of War and Fallout series on the way, the continued success of The Last of Us, and Netflix confirming a BioShock movie, it's a tempting prospect to stick on a Stetson and gallop off into the sunset.
About The Author
Tom Chapman
Tom is Trending News Editor at GGRecon, with an NCTJ qualification in Broadcast Journalism and over seven years of experience writing about film, gaming, and television. With bylines at IGN, Digital Spy, Den of Geek, and more, Tom’s love of horror means he's well-versed in all things Resident Evil, with aspirations to be the next Chris Redfield.
