"The Last Of Us" Just Started, But Everyone Is Already Crying Over Sarah (Even If They Knew What Was Coming)

🚨 There are MASSIVE spoilers ahead for The Last of Us Episode 1, but not the video games! 🚨

Ten years after The Last of Us video game was first released, the TV series adaptation has finally premiered, and it's perfect. The show scored the second biggest premiere for HBO in more than a decade, right behind House of the Dragon.

With only one episode so far, fans of the video game are already praising the adaptation for being faithful and capturing the spirit of the games, which is never an easy task.

Created by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, The Last of Us is a post-apocalyptic series that follows Joel (Pedro Pascal), a smuggler who is tasked with escorting Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across the United States.

In the first episode, titled "When You're Lost in the Darkness," we are introduced to Joel and his daughter Sarah (Nico Parker) in 2003 just before a mass fungal infection sparks a global pandemic, turning its victims into bloodthirsty cannibal creatures, aka the show's version of zombies.

This scene that features Sarah standing in her neighbor's house looking at DVDs, when you suddenly see the old woman just out of focus over her shoulder as the infection takes over, is truly the definition of a perfect horror moment.

Now, personally, I have never played The Last of Us games and have been avoiding spoilers, so when I tell you I knew NOTHING going into Episode 1, I mean it.

This is all to say, I was totally blindsided when Joel, Sarah, and Joel's brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) try to escape their town in Texas after the infection begins to claim its victims and it ultimately ends with Sarah's heartbreaking death after she's shot by a soldier.

It's a devastating moment for Joel, which deeply affects his character, especially after the show jumps 20 years into the future and we learn that Joel is living in a quarantine zone in Boston.

In fact, the show does a great job at showing how Sarah's death is still with Joel when he can hear her screams as he sleeps and when he encounters a FEDRA agent pointing a gun at Ellie and he immediately thinks of Sarah and takes out all of his anger.

What's even more incredible is Nico Parker was able to make viewers, like myself, fall in love with Sarah in just a few scenes, thus making her death so devastating for everyone. And even fans of the video games, who KNEW it was coming, were emotional watching it unfold on screen.

What's impressive is this is only Nico's fourth project. She previously starred in The Third Day, Reminiscence, and Disney's Dumbo live-action adaptation.

And in case you had no idea like me, Nico is the daughter of Westworld actor Thandiwe Newton and filmmaker Ol Parker, who notably wrote and directed Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and Ticket to Paradise.

Speaking to TVLine about portraying Sarah's death, which is a huge moment in the games, Nico said she was "incredibly stressed" due to how influential the death is on the rest of the series. "It's an iconic moment. I have cried at that moment, myself, prior to even in any way being involved in the show," she said. "So I think I was very aware of how important it was to kind of execute it appropriately."

And it looks like she succeeded in every way, with fans flocking to Twitter during and after the episode to share their love for Nico's portrayal of Sarah. Here are some of the best reactions:

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What did you think of the first episode of The Last of Us? Tell us in the comments below!