The Last of Us TV show director hints at potential release date

Games like Resident Evil - The Last of Us — (Image credit: Naughty Dog)

The Last of Us TV show may be coming to our screens next year, according to the director of the show's pilot episode.

Kantemir Balagov's Instagram bio lists the director's past and upcoming projects, and it's now been updated to read: "The Last of Us series (2022)".

As for when in 2022, that's still anyone's guess. However, it's likely to be the later part of the year, as filming is currently scheduled to wrap in early June. Production on the video game adaptation began this month in Calgary, Alberta – cast member Gabriel Luna recently shared a photo of him and his fellow actors on set, confirming that things have already kicked off – or if they haven't yet, they will do very soon.

Along with Balagov, Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin and Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann are on board with the series behind the scenes – the duo will develop and write the show. Meanwhile, filmmakers Ali Abbasi and Jasmila Žbanić are also directing at least one episode each (although it hasn't been confirmed which episode – or episodes – yet). Žbanić's latest movie, the war drama Quo Vadis, Aida?, was nominated for Best International Feature Film at this year's Oscars. Two more directors are set to be announced sometime soon.

As for Balagov, he's a Russian filmmaker who made his directorial debut in 2017. In 2019, he won the Best Director Award at Cannes Film Festival for his second movie, the historical drama Beanpole.

Game of Thrones and The Mandalorian's Pedro Pascal will play series lead Joel, while fellow Game of Thrones alum Bella Ramsey is his co-lead, playing Ellie. As well as Luna, who plays Joel's brother Tommy, the cast also includes Merle Dandridge as Marlene (a character she also voiced in the video game) and Nico Parker as Joel's daughter Sarah. Druckmann recently confirmed that the show's first season will consist of 10 hour-long episodes, so there should be plenty of time to dig into the source material.

While we wait for The Last of Us TV show to arrive on our screens, fill out your watch list with our picks of the best TV shows of 2020.

Emily Garbutt is a former Entertainment Writer at GamesRadar+ who covered everything film and TV-related. Emily helped bring you all the latest news, features, and reviews, and helmed a Big Screen Spotlight column. She has previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting a NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism, and is now a freelance writer.