HBO’s The Last of Us is set to have a slightly different creative team for its third season.
Earlier this year, the post-apocalyptic drama made its highly anticipated return following a two-year absence.
Picking up five years after the hospital showdown in season one, the new batch of episodes follows Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) as they navigate their strained relationship and settle in Jackson, Wyoming, a haven free of infected.
Over the course of its run, season two received universal critical acclaim, with many praising its emotionally charged story and expansion of the video game source material.
Fortunately for fans, The Last of Us has already been renewed for a third entry, which was announced days before its season two premiere.
However, on 2 July, the co-creator of the show and video games, Neil Druckmann, announced that he had made “the difficult decision to step away” from his creative involvement with the upcoming batch of episodes.
“With work complete on season 2 and before any meaningful work starts on season 3, now is the right time for me to transition my complete focus on Naughty Dog and its future projects, including writing and directing our next game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, along with my responsibilties as Studio Head and Head of Creative,” he said in a statement posted on Naughty Dog’s social media accounts.
“Co-creating the show has been a career highlight. It’s been an honor to work alongside Craig Mazin to executive produce, direct and write on the last two seasons. I’m deeply thankful for the thoughtful approach and dedication the talented cast and crew took to adapting The Last of Us Part 1 and the continued adaptation of The Last of Us Part II.”
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In addition to Druckmann, one of the writers on The Last of Us season two and Part II video game, Haley Gross, also announced that she would be stepping away from the series.
“With great care and consideration, I’ve decided to take a step back from my day-to-day work on HBO’s The Last of Us to make space for what comes next,” she revealed on Instagram.
“I’m so appreciative of how special this experience has been. Working alongside Neil, Craig, HBO, and this remarkable cast and crew has been life-changing. The stories we told – about love, loss, and what it means to be human in a terrifying world – are exactly why I love this franchise.”
In response to Druckmann and Gross’ departure, Craig Mazin released a statement to Deadline praising the two creative talents and their contribution to the show.
“It’s been a creative dream to work with Neil and bring an adaptation of his brilliant work to life on HBO. I couldn’t have asked for a more generous creative partner,” he wrote.
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“As a true fan of Naughty Dog and Neil’s work in video games, I’m beyond excited to play his next game. While he focuses on that, I’ll continue to work with our brilliant cast and crew to deliver the show our audience has come to expect. We are so grateful to Neil and Halley Gross for entrusting the incredible story of The Last of Us Part II to us, and we’re just as grateful to the millions of people around the world who tune in.”
Druckmann’s departure comes a few months after Mazin shared his candid thoughts on when The Last of Us TV series will conclude.
“I’m not going past the game. I’ll just say that flat out. So if people are thinking, ‘Oh, these guys are planning the old cash grab thing,'” he revealed to The Hollywood Reporter in April.
“I’m basically setting a decade of my rapidly dwindling life on fire to tell this story. The show is so hard to make. It has to have an end. So I’m not going past. “
While Mazin didn’t rule out someone else creating a ‘Dunk and Egg The Last of Us show’, he revealed that he’s only looking at one or two more seasons to wrap up the current series.
“If this can happen all in one more season, great. If we feel like it makes sense to break it into two, then we will do that, ” he added.
The first two seasons of The Last of Us are now available to stream on HBO Max in the US and Sky Atlantic and NOW TV in the UK.
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