*WARNING: potential spoilers for The Last Of Us
It's becoming a common refrain in media in the past few years: a new adaptation of another media invokes a majority positive opinion for adding (or keeping) the diversity of characters, and a vocal online minority of mostly White, male fans critique the new adaptation for that same diversity.
This was seen in some fans' reactions to the release of HBO's The Last of Us, an adaptation of the games by the same name.
In short, between part one and two of the game version, the game creator added in a lot more realistic diversity to the game characters and the adaptation continued on with that tradition in the new series.
Cue the online racist backlash from fans who are angry about, among other things: Chilean actor Pedro Pascal playing the main character who is White in the game, the casting of Joel's in-game daughter Sarah as a bi-racial actress, and the promised possibility of another character Ellie preserving her character storyline as a lesbian.
When asked about the backlash in an interview, Pascal was nonchalant.
"You can't make everybody happy."
In an interview with Yahoo Entertainment, The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann outlined his reasons for switching to a more diverse chast of characters and how he pleased he is with the HBO show.
"I saw this story as kind of a love letter to the United States, especially the landscapes. America has its problems, but its superpower is that it's a melting pot of every kind of person from every walk of life. It was important that the show capture that."
There was excitement for the adaptation, with some long-time fans of the game working on opening their minds.
Many fans were quite aware of the potential backlash from racist fans online, and were not having it.
And, well, if you know anything about the game, the focus on Joel's daughter Sarah is a very weird argument.
Others are just excited to be able to share a video game they like with audiences who watch TV.
The Last of Us premiered Sunday, Jan. 15 on HBO and HBO Max.
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