With the second season of HBO’s hit apocalyptic drama show starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey on the horizon,The Last of Usis making groundbreaking strides in accessibility to further encompass the spirit of the video game it’s based on. Naughty Dog’s best-selling game franchise,The Last of Us,features unique and innovative accessibility mechanics, especially regarding the infectedmonsters called Clickers, whose fungus has blinded them, and therefore they rely on their hyper-sensitive hearing to track down prey. Players relied on their hearing to stealth their way past Clickers, but Naughty Dog found an equally scary and interactive way for deaf players to avoid the fungus monsters, which involved visual clues instead of auditory ones. Now, the show is embodying the game’s accessibility by releasing an American Sign Language version of the first season, as well as one of the upcoming second season, featuringCODA’s Daniel Durant.
For the first time in an HBO original, the hit show, whosesecond season trailer has already broken HBO records, is making accessibility a priority with the help of ASL-acting pro Durant, who has performed in ASL throughout the entire first and second seasons. It has been announced that the ASL version of the first season will be released as a standalone title on Mar. 31 on Max, ahead of the second season’s premiere on Apr. 13. The ASL version ofThe Last of Usaims to create a new level of appreciation and comprehension of the series for the Deaf audience by allowing them to experience it through their own language rather than just subtitles.
“We always rely on captions, but they’re always in English grammar structure, and having the concept of adding a Deaf interpreter there just makes it a clearer message. It gives us expanded ideas and meanings, and then we as Deaf people get to understand the meanings behind it, using our own language and seeing it on the screen. It makes it even more accessible to us and so much more special.” - Durant to IndieWire via an interpreter
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The ASL version ofThe Last of UsSeason 2 will air day-and-date when it becomes available for everyone on Max, with Durant and director Leila Hanaumi performing. A significant move to make the award-winning series more accessible for all fans of the franchise.
How Will the ASL Version of ‘The Last of Us’ Work?
This is not the first time Max has created an ASL version of popular projects, with previous ASL versions includingBarbie, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,andGodzilla x Kong: The New Empire,so the formula for the conversion has already been established. Durant recorded his performances in a plain black shirt in front of a green screen, so that his image could be superimposed in the corner of the frame, which minimizes distraction from the show.
Durant’s performance has also been edited so that his appearance is seamless, making his movement fluid so that he’s not jumping around in the frame. As Hanaumi also acted for the ASL version ofBarbie, she is also a pro at the role and will most likely be translating for female characters. WhileThe Last of Ushas taken its own liberties to set itself apart from the games, it is more than reassuring to see the creators make the effort to keep accessibility a valued feature of the project across the board.
Source:IndieWire
The Last Of Us
