Exploring these new perspectives became possible as Mazin, Druckmann, and the rest of the crew worked to build a cinematic experience that expands the fictional world of the games. Mazin saw this episode as another chance to "give context to the time that happened between outbreak day and where we are now in the story." These stories beyond Joel and Ellie give viewers a chance to experience "The Last of Us" in a reimagined light. In some cases this has worked well, while others are more heavily debated. Perhaps we'll see more of these kinds of stories as the series continues in the months ahead, and beyond in its second season.

"Fudge," I remember saying, only I didn't say fudge, I said fuck, a word for adults. I was playing The Last of Us, a narrative video game for adults about a zombie apocalypse, and I had just died for what seemed like the thousandth time in the first room with a "clicker," the game lore's name for a medium-difficulty enemy. These "infected"--it's classier not to call them zombies, and this is a classy zombie-combat game, one with a story--had become misshapen thanks to a cordyceps brain infection, which devoured mankind almost overnight. The clicker was ghastlier than others, because it had lived long enough for the infection to fully engulf its formerly human face, fungal fibers enrobing it, teeth jutting out like barbs. An older infected is a more resilient one.

This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from. When the British actor Bob Hoskins agreed to star in "Super Mario Bros.," he had little sense of what he was getting into. The year was 1992, and, although the title on which the film was based had sold tens of millions of copies, a feature-length live-action adaptation of a video game had never been attempted. The movie's eventual tagline, "This ain't no game," reflected a self-conscious distance from its source material: a convoluted parallel-universe plot recast the heroes as Italian American handymen from Brooklyn and the princess they set out to save as an N.Y.U. Hoskins himself hadn't even heard of the Nintendo franchise--but when his kids learned that he would be playing Mario they excitedly showed him the game.

Game of Thrones actors Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal – who also stars in Disney's Star Wars spinoff The Mandalorian – have been cast in HBO's television adaptation of blockbusting video game series The Last of Us. They will take on the roles of Ellie and Joel in the forthcoming drama. The Hollywood Reporter broke news of the adaptation last March, and since then speculation over the casting has been rife. Fans on social media initially favoured Booksmart star Kaitlyn Dever for the role of Ellie, and the actor expressed interest. Meanwhile, True Detective's Mahershala Ali was rumoured to have been approached for the role of Joel.

AT&T Labs is one of the most vital research and product development centers in the industry. To lead this elite group requires superior technical expertise– in areas like artificial intelligence (AI), networking and data analytics – as well as top-notch management skills. Mazin Gilbert, our new vice president of Labs, embodies all those qualities. Now I've known Mazin since 2006, but he's been with AT&T for more than 20 years. Mazin has played a critical role in developing many cutting-edge digital creations we take for granted.