The Last of Us (2013) combined the sheer despondency of The Road, the grit of No Country for Old Men, to the somberness of Children of Men. You were held emotionally captive, kept overwhelmed by the seriousness of the tone, in juxtaposition to a medium that we usually assume is dominated by dime-a-dozen "Shoot 'em ups"; ie: Video Games. The Last of Us took itself seriously: via cinematic cutscenes and movie worthy dialogue: demanding respect from it's audience, which was happily given after an apprehensive launch.

You wouldn't remember/know any of that from watching the HBO show. The sheer bleakness of tone was sacrificed in favor of rushed subplots: subtracting from the audience bonding with Joel and Ellie, and witnessing any natural, progressive, slow bonding between them; for mass appeal. Even HBO's Game of Thrones had to pay "it's dues" the first couple seasons; Relying on the good will and interest from eager fans of the novel series, to generate enough interest until casual viewers became interested (from which it then exploded into a phenomenon).

Sicario's Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) and Kate (Emily Blunt) have more accurate chemistry to The Last of Us's characters Joel and Ellie, than the title characters do in this (inaccurate) rendition. I suggest you watch Sicario, and any of the three inspiration films for The Last of Us, or Logan, if you want true representation of how it should FEEL.