Part 3/16:
Meanwhile, HBO’s The Last of Us series faces its own season two hurdles. Despite its enormous success, the promotional effort has been lackluster, with showrunners openly admitting they want to subvert audience expectations rather than deliver the straightforward adaptation fans loved. Critics highlight that the series has already begun to diverge significantly from the source game, including plans to depict Joel in therapy—a subplot absent from the game but likely introduced to prolong and deconstruct the narrative. This signals a broader trend of Hollywood deconstructing established stories under the guise of artistic reinvention, often at the expense of fans’ preferences.