In recent years, there’s been a lot written about the role gaming plays in the Deaf community, from video games that utilize ASL to a well-known group of World of Warcraft players. As accessibility becomes more prominent in gaming, it would stand to reason that a similar principle might apply to adaptations of video games in other media — and, sure enough, that’s precisely what’s taking place with the second season of The Last of Us.
Last week, HBO announced that the show’s upcoming season would have an ASL option available for viewers. Beginning on March 31, the series’ first season will also be available to stream in ASL. Daniel Durant and Leila Hanaumi — the latter of whom handled similar duties for Barbie — will be responsible for interpreting the second season of the show in ASL, with Durant also interpreting season one.
“This debut brings the show to life in an authentic and fully accessible way for Deaf audiences and is another meaningful step towards our goal of offering an inclusive streaming experience,” said Warner Bros. Discovery SVP of Global Product Management Naomi Waibel in a statement.
In an interview with IndieWire’s Brian Welk, Durant explained why having an ASL option was so important. “We always rely on captions, but they’re always in English grammar structure, and having the concept of adding a Deaf interpreter there just makes it a clearer message,” he told IndieWire.
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We tracked down Papa Pedro’s killer jacket.The whole IndieWire article is well worth reading, as it goes in-depth into how Durant and Hanaumi sought the best ways to interpret some of the concepts and science that play a big role in the series. And it’s a welcome decision from Warner Bros. Discovery to add The Last of Us to the list of high-profile projects receiving ASL interpretations on Max.
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