There’s been a lot of talk of mushrooms on the internet thanks to HBO’s The Last of Us. The TV show’s apocalypse is all thanks to the Cordyceps fungus and its haunting effects. Series star Pedro Pascal has come forward with his thoughts on another fungus — the magic mushroom.
During an interview on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Pascal, who plays Joel Miller in the series, talked about working on set and his experiences with the show’s infected. Partially through the interview, Meyers asks Pascal whether working on The Last of Us has put him off from enjoying mushroom dishes like pasta.
“I love mushrooms. All kinds,” Pascal emphasizes. “The kinds in restaurants. The kinds that used to come in a little ziplock bag in the ’90s. And now the kinds that are in these colourful chocolates,” he continues.
Meyers then continues joking about ingesting some psychedelic mushrooms and watching The Last of Us. “That I would not do,” Pascal quickly interjects. “That might put you off it for good. So don’t do that.”
The Last of Us is heavily inspired by and based on the video game franchise from PlayStation’s Naughty Dog. Six episodes into the series and audiences have already faced very heavy and emotional narrative threads. Each episode sees Pascal’s Joel and Ellie, played by Bella Ramsey, cross the U.S. in hopes of finding a cure for the Cordecypt virus. Along the way, our two characters stumble upon a cast of characters and horrifying infected.
One infected in particular, dubbed Bloater, has recently built quite the acclaim online. Production and the VFX pulled no punches in replicating the giant enemy from the game and making it a horrifying threat on-screen during the fifth episode of the series. Comprised of grotesque fundal growths, the Bloater became the internet’s number one mushroom. The actor who played infected even went as far as to say “He seems to be a bit of a sex icon.”
Pascal’s comments on the combination of magic mushrooms and the widely successful HBO show are mainly in jest. However, it’s a good to keep in mind as we head toward the final three episodes of the season.
An eagle-eyed viewer of The Last of Us has caught a minor but amusing error in the latest episode of the hit HBO series.
On Twitter, guitarist Scott T. Jones shared an image of a wide shot of the episode’s wintry Wyoming scenery. It looks beautiful, but there’s something wrong with it — a few crew members can be seen in the bottom left. Admittedly, they look so small in the frame that most people would have likely not noticed or simply thought they were part of the trees.
Brilliant episode. Something you might want to fix and reupload though. You can see the film crew in this shot. pic.twitter.com/GZ9Pp6AknL
— Scott T. Jones Guitarist/Composer (@stjguitarist) February 20, 2023
Still, it’s interesting to see accidents like this pop up in such a big HBO production, especially when it isn’t the first time. In episode four of Game of Thrones‘ eighth and final season, a Starbucks coffee cup was infamously visible in front of Daenerys (Emilia Clarke). This isn’t exclusive to HBO, either. In another Pedro Pascal series, Disney’s The Mandalorian, a crew member wearing a t-shirt and jeans was standing behind Greef Karga (Carl Weathers). In both cases, the issues were digitally removed, so it remains to be seen whether HBO will do the same with The Last of Us.
In any case, what’s most notable about the latest episode of The Last of Us, at least for Canadians, is where, exactly, this scene was filmed. Indeed, standing in for Episode 6’s Wyoming setting was none other than the lovely small town of Canmore, Alberta. It’s a location that both Pascal and Bella Ramsey said was their favourite in the province to visit during an interview with MobileSyrup. “Every inch of Canmore was just this magical little town… with really great fudge,” said Pascal.
It’s worth noting that Season 2 of The Last of Uswill adapt The Last of Us Part II, a game that begins in Wyoming. Therefore, it remains to be seen whether HBO will return to Canmore to shoot those scenes and, if so, whether the crew members will stay out of sight next time.
The Last of Us is now streaming exclusively on Crave in Canada.
Earlier this month, Canadian artist The Weeknd revealed the first look at his upcoming concert event, The Weeknd: Live at SoFi Stadium, is set to launch on February 25th. Available as part of an HBO broadcast, here’s how you can stream the concert event in Canada.
Following the premiere of his new live video for Die For You, The Weeknd announced his Live at SoFi Stadium concert event. Filmed in November 2022, The Weeknd filmed his performance as part of an HBO live special and is now ready to release it to the world.
“Experience the sold-out show like never before,” the description reads on the official trailer.
The Weeknd: Live at SoFi Stadium was filmed in L.A. at the SoFi Stadium as part of the concluding stops on the Scarborough-born artist’s After Hours Til Dawn Tour. The special appears to be in some way a means to make it up to his fans. In September, The Weeknd was forced to cancel his second show in L.A. after losing his voice. Weeks later, the artist continued his tour but returned to SoFi Stadium on November 26th and 27th.
While the special is being broadcasted on HBO Max in the U.S. and other eligible regions, it’s available via Crave in Canada. The concert special is said to be roughly 95 minutes in length. The Weeknd serves as one of the many executive producers on the project.
The past weekend, the sixth episode of HBO’s The Last of Us premiered. Following the heartbreaking events from last week’s episode, the sixth episode, named Kin, introduces us to a thriving community in Jackson, Wyoming.
The series of The Last of Us remixes the location of Jackson in a few very important ways. As seen in the episode, the community of Jackson closely resembles the western-inspired settlement seen in The Last of Us Part II. However, there is still a notable mention of the hydroelectric dam, which serves as the basis for the original game’s locale.
The Last of Usunderwent production in Alberta, Canada. As such, the community of Jackson was built in Canmore, a small town in the province. For fans of the games, HBO’s rendition of Jackson closely resembles its video game counterpart. So much so, that many scenes feature mirror sceneries. The Last of Us’ production team set out to make Jackson a fresh change of scenery for audiences while also staying true to the game.
“The buildings there have a real rustic feel, and this beautiful view of the Rocky Mountains at the end of its main street,” production designer John Paino told Los Angeles Times in an interview.
In the games, Jackson stands as a reminder of what civilization used to be like prior to the Cordyceps virus that plagued the world. Episode 6 gives us a similar look at the town. Thanks to the nearby dam, Jackson has electricity, running water, etc. Established seven years prior to Joel and Ellie’s arrival, Jackson is bustling with 300 survivors, sharing responsibilities. The town includes an operational theatre, bar, and grand hall, where community members come to eat meals together. “The barbecue place where Joel and Ellie have their first meal, it’s decorated with banners that might have been made by the children of the community,” Paino says.
What did this all mean for Canmore? Well, production had the difficult task of transforming the sleepy town into a thriving community of post-apocalyptic survivors. The production team went on to build stables and makeshift greenhouses on top of empty parking lots. Screen-ready sidewalks and railroad ties were also installed. Paino’s team also built fake exteriors for a number of the existing buildings. Plus, the rather large wooden barricade shown to surround Jackson was smaller in scale. It actually only covered 60 feet on both sides of a major street. This was all done while not disturbing the day-to-day life of residing members of Canmore.
After production concluded, Paino’s team disassembled its TV version of Jackson. Admitting that some of the barricade walls were used for a set in Episode 7, most of it did end up being thrown in a wood chipper.
In a recent interview, lead actor Pedro Pascal, who plays Joel, revealed his thoughts on Canmore. “Every inch of Canmore was just this magical little town… with really great fudge,” Pascal said. Bella Ramsey, who is cast as Ellie, has remarked, “My favourite place that we went to was Canmore, for sure’.”
Paino concludes by wondering if Canmore will become a hotspot for fans of The Last of Us. Perhaps Canmore will see similar foot traffic to Water White’s house from Breaking Bad. “It’s a really beautiful area, and there’s great skiing and hot springs up there, so I’m for it.”
The Last of Us airs on Crave in Canada each Sunday at 9 pm ET/6 pm PT.
But of all the places they visited during their year-long shoot in the province, there was one place, in particular, that stood out: Canmore.
“My favourite place that we went to was Canmore, for sure,” Ramsey noted, to which Pascal excitedly agreed. “Every inch of Canmore was just this magical little town… with really great fudge,” he added. (Sadly, we weren’t able to ask where he got said fudge.)
Now, we’re finally getting to see the small Alberta town in the hit HBO drama series. In the sixth episode, premiering February 19th, Joel (Pascal) and Ellie (Ramsey) head to Jackson, Wyoming to find Joel’s brother, Tommy (Gabriel Luna). As co-creator/co-showrunner Craig Mazin told us, Canmore was a “dead ringer” for Jackson thanks to its beautiful, snowy vistas.
It’s worth noting that The Last of Us has been renewed for a second season, which will adapt The Last of Us Part II. The game’s opening hours are also set in Jackson, so it remains to be seen if HBO will bring the production back to Canmore for these scenes. For now, though, we have Episode 6 (titled “Kin”) to enjoy, as well as the remaining three episodes.
Part of the appeal of The Last of Us has been to see all of Alberta’s stunning geography, and it’s something that the cast and crew have continued to praise. In a recent interview, Jeffrey Pierce, who plays Perry in the series and Tommy in the games, told us that his time shooting in Calgary was likely his “favourite” filming experience to date. John Paino, the series’ production designer, has also said that he was “shocked” at how “clean” Alberta ended up being.
Part of the appeal of HBO’s The Last of Us series is how it adds to the story of the original PlayStation game upon which it’s based.
In one case, this meant dramatically expanding the love story between Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett) in the standout third episode, which was only hinted at in the original game. Elsewhere, this might lead to introducing new characters.
Nowhere has the latter been more apparent than in Episodes 4 and 5 of the show, in which creators and showrunners Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and Neil Druckmann (the original The Last of Us game) introduce not one, but two new figures. Enter Kansas City revolutionary leader Kathleen (Yellowjackets‘ Melanie Lynskey) and her right-hand man Perry (Bosch‘s Jeffrey Pierce).
Jeffrey Pierce as Perry.
But for fans of both 2013’s The Last of Us and its 2020 sequel, Pierce is perhaps most recognizable for another role: Tommy, the younger brother of protagonist Joel. With Gabriel Luna (Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) portraying Tommy in the series, Pierce has been given the chance to play a completely new character. It wasn’t always going to be that way, though.
“They actually had me read for a different part, and they had me read for it three times,” Pierce reveals to MobileSyrup in a roundtable interview. While he coyly declined to reveal what that part might be, he says Mazin and Druckmann soon presented him with the character of Perry.
“Ultimately, they came back and said, ‘Look, we’re never gonna believe you as a victim, which is a very gratifying thing to hear.’ And a week later, they called and said, ‘Hey, we got this guy that we think you’d be perfect for.’ So it was sort of a roundabout way back to the kind of casting that is really in my wheelhouse.”
Indeed, Perry is tough and resolved like Tommy, but with a unique wrinkle that sets him apart thanks to his relationship with Kathleen. Where Tommy leaves Joel (Pedro Pascal) to go off on his own, Perry follows Kathleen, who’s taken over as revolutionary leader from her brother, and serves as both muscle and advisor.
“I enjoyed Tommy for a lot of reasons, but Perry is the sort of iconic Ronin samurai who’s found his purpose, and what more could I ask for?” says Pierce.
Melanie Lynskey as Kathleen.
For Pierce, the HBO series also presented a new way to experience a world he’s acted in for well over 10 years. In the games, he’d record in a studio with no resemblance to The Last of Us‘ post-apocalyptic world, surrounded by fellow actors in offbeat motion-capture outfits.
While he says the challenge of imagining everything through motion capture “takes you back to the roots of why you fell in love with acting,” he was still in awe of the experience of actually filming in real Alberta locations. With an estimated budget of over $100 million USD (about $133.7 million CAD), The Last of Us is believed to be the most expensive TV production in Canadian history, and it shows.
“Walking onto the sets that they built, especially for Episode 5’s climactic exchange — they built that entire neighbourhood. That was a parking lot, and they built it from the ground up,” he says, referring to the big battle between Kathleen’s forces and infected creatures that Joel, Ellie (Bella Ramsey), Henry (Toronto’s Lamar Johnson) and Sam (Keivonn Woodard) get dragged into.
“And if there’s any CG, it’s just the sky. Everything else is practical. And that was unbelievable. I mean, it’s got to be 15 to 20 houses that they built the skeletons of, and then the actual façades of, and then they’ve got one that’s burned down, and the only thing left was a chimney. And they did every single piece of detail in there. So to get to come to play on something that was given that much love and sweat and blood to build — you felt that you had to honour what they had done with your work. And that made it a really, really special experience.”
Also adding to his time on the show: Calgary.
“With COVID, I was kept pretty contained [in] downtown Calgary, which was still great. I’ve shot all over Canada, and the thing that I enjoy, regardless of where I’ve been, is the people. They’re just such a lovely bunch. And that crew in Calgary was amazing. This is another first experience, and I think there were probably 250, 300 people on the crew. And more than two-thirds of them took that job because they were fans of the game; [it] impacted their lives in such a way that maybe that’s why they got into production, maybe that’s why they got into TV and film. But they took that job specifically because it was The Last of Us.”
For Pierce, this all brought his long-running journey with The Last of Us full circle.
“Walking onto set the first day was like walking into my own living room because everyone knew me as Tommy from the game and were just so warm and welcoming and kind and generous. I think it was maybe my favourite experience filming because of that.”
As previously confirmed, the fifth episode, “Endure and Survive,” was to premiere on Friday, February 10th instead of Sunday, February 12th to avoid the Super Bowl. However, Crave users quickly noticed that the February 5th episode, “Please Hold to My Hand,” was showing up instead.
Beyond this streaming snafu, “Endure and Survive” is notable for a few reasons. To start, it features Toronto’s own Lamar Johnson in the key role of Henry, a man looking to escape Kansas City with his little brother, Sam. It also features two original characters: Melanie Lynskey as revolutionary leader Kathleen and Jeffrey Pierce (who played Tommy in the video games) as her right-hand man, Perry.
For more on “Endure and Survive,” read our interview with Pierce, in which he talks about what it was like to shoot in Calgary.
At the end of last week’s episode of The Last of Us, a man and his little brother get the drop on Joel and Ellie, holding them at gunpoint.
Those who’ve played the original PlayStation game that inspired the hit HBO series will recognize them as Henry and Sam, arguably two of its most memorable characters. (If you know, you know.)
But what many might not know, however, is that the older brother, Henry, is played by Toronto’s own Lamar Johnson. The 28-year-old actor is best known for a lead role in the Canadian teen drama series The Next Step, as well as appearances in the likes of The Hate U Give and Your Honor. He also stars in Brother, an upcoming Toronto-set drama that garnered rave reviews at TIFF.
Henry (Johnson) and Sam (Woodard). Image credit: HBO
While that brotherly relationship was present in the game, the show tweaks Henry’s background by giving him a troubled history with the new character, Kathleen, a ruthless revolutionary leader played by Yellowjackets‘ Melanie Lynskey.
Some other changes from the game: HBO’s version of Sam is younger and Deaf (Woodard is also Deaf himself), which is a nice move for representation. We’ll see this all play out in the fifth episode, titled “Endure and Survive.”
Henry (performed by Brandon Scott) in The Last of Us’ PS5 remake. Image credit: PlayStation
Johnson is one of The Last of Us‘ many Canadian connections. Most notably, the series was filmed in Alberta for an entire year, shooting in such locations as Calgary, Edmonton, High River and Lethbridge. However, it was the small town of Canmore that stars Pedro Pascal (Joel) and Bella Ramsey (Ellie) raved the most about in a recent interview with MobileSyrup. “Every inch of Canmore was just this magical little town… with really great fudge,” Pascal told us.
HBO has announced that it is moving up the premiere of the fifth episode of The Last of Usto avoid conflicting with the Super Bowl.
Normally, new episodes of the hit post-apocalyptic drama series drop on Sundays at 9pm ET, which would overlap with the big game on February 12th. Now, The Last of Us Episode 5 will arrive on Friday, February 10th at 9pm ET. Bell has confirmed that it will begin streaming at the same time on its Crave platform in Canada. Otherwise, the remaining episodes of The Last of Us will stream each Sunday at 9pm ET.
The Last of Us has had a strong momentum since premiering on January 15th, landing HBO its second-biggest series debut after House of the Dragon. This has resulted in the network quickly renewing the show for a second season, which will adapt The Last of Us Part II.
In Canada, specifically, The Last of Us has generated a lot of buzz for filming in Alberta. With a reported budget of over $100 million USD (about $135 million CAD), the show is believed to be the biggest TV production in Canadian history.
Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Monday to promote his acclaimed January 29th episode of the HBO series, “Long, Long Time,” Offerman revealed that he has a history with games. When Kimmel asked if Offerman had played The Last of Us, the Parks and Recreation star said that an addiction to Nintendo 64 classic platformer Banjo-Kazooie actually made him quit games entirely:
“Twenty-five years ago, I played my last video game and I’m very indulgent. I lost a couple of weeks to a video game called Banjo-Kazooie. Two weeks went by and I was like, ‘oh my god, the slow dopamine drip is so delicious,’ then it’s over and you’re like ‘yes, I won!’ and immediately I’m like, ‘what have I done with my life?’ So I decided I was never going to do that again. And so thankfully, because games have gotten so good, like The Last of Us, that I think I’d be in a basement and I wouldn’t even be going to audition for shows like this.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Kimmel showed amusing clips of people reacting emotionally to “Long, Long Time.” Both Offerman and co-star Murray Bartlett have garnered significant praise for their respective roles of Bill and Frank, two partners surviving together over the years during the post-apocalypse. In fact, many of those who have seen all nine episodes of the series have said it’s the best of the bunch.
Overall, The Last of Us has already become one of HBO’s most popular shows, and its second-biggest premiere after House of the Dragon. The massive early success has led HBO to already renew the series for a second season, which will adapt The Last of Us Part II video game.
Co-created by Neil Druckmann (the original The Last of Us game) and Craig Mazin (Chernobyl), The Last of Us follows Joel (The Mandalorian‘s Pedro Pascal, a hardened man who’s hired to smuggle a young teenager, Ellie (Game of Thrones’ Bella Ramsey), across a pandemic-ravaged U.S.
