We’re still waiting for the first truly great video game movie. But what if the first truly great video game TV show comes first? (Our apologies to The Super Mario Bros. Super Show.)

The pieces seem to be in place for that to occur with the announcement of an HBO series based on The Last of Us, the hugely popular and critically acclaimed survival horror game from Naughty Dog about a man smuggling a teenage girl across the post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested remains of the United States. The game well over 10 million copies — and a sequel, The Last of Us Part II, goes on sale this May.

The HBO show will be written and produced by Craig Mazin — who recently created HBO’s hit Chernobyl series — and Neil Druckmann, the writer and creative director of the original game. While the show will be based on the first game, it could expand to cover material from the upcoming sequel down the line.

Here’s Mazin on the news (via THR):

 Neil Druckmann is without question the finest storyteller working in the video game medium, and The Last of Us is his magnum opus. Getting a chance to adapt this breathtaking work of art has been a dream of mine for years, and I'm so honored to do it in partnership with Neil.

With Druckmann involved, and that incredible source material — plus the creative freedom to tell dark and adult stories that comes with working at HBO — this could actually be the rare adaptation that lives up to a great video game.

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