Images from a cancelled The Last of Us animated movie short have surfaced online, uploaded by animation studio Oddfellows.
As spotted by Nerd4.life (via GamesRadar), the images were uploaded as part of a portfolio page on Oddfellow’s website. The studio was working in collaboration with Sony to create a “strong bridge” between the original game and The Last of Us Part 2. The short film would act as a “previously on” to allow both new and old fans to catch up on the story.
“In anticipation of The Last of Us II, we were asked to create a compelling short film depicting the main characters Joel and Ellie as they retell their dramatic story chronicled in the original game,” the website states.
Oddfellows cites the Blade Runner 2049 animated prequel and The Animatrix as influences, with this short film having a very different art design than the video game.
“Our proposal was to reinterpret each of the chapters of the game with a unique visual treatment. Using singular narrative devices would allow us to bridge the styles and travel seamlessly between the past and present. Ultimately Sony decided not to move forward with this project,” the website concludes.
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This portfolio page of the Oddfellows website was quickly pulled, and conventional searches will only result in a page not found error. However, thanks to Google Cache, the page can still be accessed. A search for ‘Oddfellows The Last of Us’ also still shows the page in Google search results at the time of writing. Fans have uploaded the images to Imgur.
The art style for this film is certainly striking, and it would have been great to have seen Ellie and Joel’s story come to light in this manner. It’s unclear if Sony pursued a different approach for a “previously on” element for The Last of Us Part 2 with another contractor, or if the entire idea has been permanently scrapped.
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The Last of Us Part 2 releases May 29. If you’re looking to catch up, you could always watch our The Last of Us let’s play series, or read our hands-on of the much-anticipated sequel.
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Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Entertainment Writer. You can follow him on Twitter.
Source: IGN.com The Last of Us Animated Movie Images Appear Online