“The Last of Us” is about to get even more inclusive thanks to the addition of American Sign Language settings for Season 2.
Starting with the April 13 premiere, new episodes of Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey’s hit HBO series will be available to stream with ASL versions performed by “CODA” star Daniel Durant and Leila Hanaumi. Plus, Season 1 will retroactively get the same treatment starting March 31 so deaf and hard of hearing viewers can catch up before the season premiere.
“We are thrilled to expand our ASL program and debut our first HBO Original series in ASL with ‘The Last of Us,’” Naomi Waibel, SVP of Global Product Management at WBD, said in a Wednesday statement. “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.”
Max has previously offered ASL versions of films like “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,” “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” and “Barbie,” which also starred Hanaumi (additionally, she also directed the “Last of Us” Season 1 sign language translation).
The series is written and executive produced by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, based on the video game franchise by Naughty Dog for PlayStation. As such, it’s a co-production between Sony Pictures Television, PlayStation Productions, Word Games, Mighty Mint and Naughty Dog. Other EPs include Carolyn Strauss, Jacqueline Lesko, Cecil O’Connor, Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan and Evan Wells, with Halley Gross also serving as a writer and co-EP.
