Max goes on to give an update regarding HBO’s original series, The Last of Us, in which the first season as well as the upcoming second season will be available to stream in American Sign Language. According to mxdwn post, the original series is based on the video game of the same name and follows the journey of Joel, played by Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian) and Ellie, played by Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones), who now must traverse the zombie-infected wasteland. This will mark the first time that an HBO original will be available in ASL; likewise, Warner Bros. has done something similar, with films like Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.
The ASL performance will be done by the combined efforts of Daniel Durant (CODA) and Leila Hanaumi (Barbie). According to mxdwn post, the second season will showcase new allies and enemies that Joel and Ellie will encounter along the way, which include Kaitlyn Dever (Booksmart) as Abby, Jeffrey Wright (The French Dispatch) as Isaac, and Catherine O’Hara (Home Alone). With the addition of Max adding the ASL icon to The Last of Us key arts, there are various features such as closed captioning, audio descriptions, and keyboard navigation to help in making the experience more accessible to all viewers.
According to Warner Bros, the SVP of WBD’s Global Product Management, Naomi Waibel goes on to state about this major change,” We are thrilled to expand our ASL program and debut our first HBO Original series in ASL with The Last of Us. This debut brings the show to life in an authentic and fully accessible way for Deaf audiences and is another meaningful step towards our goal of offering an inclusive streaming experience.”
While fans await on the release of the second season of The Last of Us, which is scheduled for April; 13, the entire first is avaiable to stream on Max. Viewers will also be able to stream the ASL version for the first season on March 31, which will give them enough time to catch up.