HBO's The Last Of Us: 10 Things We Need To See

All this writer wants for Christmas is the return of spiked baseball bats.

Will the beloved array of savage armaments from the video games appear in HBO's offering? A minor question, but one that has consistently featured on the lips of the fanbase since the show was announced.

Joel's signature bolt action rifle makes an appearance in the trailer, leading eagle-eyed fans to believe that HBO will pay homage to at least a few of the games' more beloved weapons. The scoped Remington 700 - an indispensable staple of any self-respecting player's load-out - is one thing, but audiences are already desperate to see whether the show will bring back more of the franchise's wince-inducing armory.

While it is more than likely that the show's characters will be bestowed with run-of-the-mill guns and blades, àla The Walking Dead, a callback to some of Naughty Dog's more memorable instruments of death would be met with a tidal wave of fanbase approval. This writer is already anxiously waiting to see whether the show pays loving tribute to the original by integrating the brutal in-game equipment or the iconic improvised workbenches into the story in some form.

As the video games showed, letting barbarically brutal weaponry loose on nightmarish antagonists makes for booming business. Considering the franchise's historical success in this regard, HBO would be foolish not to capitalize on such an integral concept.