Neil Druckmann, head of the PlayStation studio Naughty Dog and co-creator of The Last of Us, is stepping away from the HBO show based on the 2013 game and its 2020 sequel to focus his work on Naughty Dog's next game. On Instagram, the studio published the following statement from Druckmann:
"I've made the difficult decision to step away from my involvement in The Last of Us on HBO. With work completed on season 2 and before any meaningful work starts on season 3, now is the right time for me to transition my complete focus to Naughty Dog and its future projects, including writing and directing our exciting next game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, along with my responsibilities as Studio Head and Head of Creative."
He went on to thanks showrunner Craig Mazin (on the left in the above photo) as well as the cast and crew he worked with on the first two seasons and called working on the show a "career highlight" Druckmann was credited as executive producer and co-creator of the show and he directed one episode in each of the show's two seasons as well as contributing writing to several others. The bulk of the show itself was written by Mazin.
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The Ankler first published Druckmann's statement shortly before it was officially released by Naughty Dog.
Shortly after Druckmann's statement was released, The Last of Us Part II co-writer Halley Gross (who had also co-written multiple episodes in season two of the show) announced she also would not be moving forward with the HBO adaptation.
"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. 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. I have some truly rad projects ahead that I can’t wait to share, but for now, I want to express my gratitude to everyone who brought Ellie and Joel’s world to life with such care.”
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Finally, Mazin himself shared a statement, as published in Variety:
"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. 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."
This comes after a fairly rocky reception for The Last of Us season two. The challenge of adapting the story of the second video game led to some decisions that didn't sit well with both fans of the games as well as those who were new to the world via the show. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, there was also an inordinate amount of online vitriol directed towards Druckmann and Mazin for some of the changes they made to adapt the game into a TV series.
For my part, I thought season two was well-done, with continued excellent acting but issues with pace due in part to it only being seven episodes long. But I can also agree there are a number of fair criticisms to make about how the show was plotted — it probably stuck too closely to the timeline of the game, and the finale left things up in the air to what must be a frustrating degree for people who don't know the storyline from playing the games.
That said, Druckmann co-wrote and directed one of the best episodes of the entire series (season two's "The Price") and did solid behind-the-camera work in season one's "Infected" as well. Not to mention the fact that he knows these characters better than basically anyone alive — it's plausible to wonder just how things will change without his influence going forward. On the other hand, this change might re-focus the show's creative team and help correct parts of season two where things just didn't land as fans had hoped. It's far too early to tell, but it'll be worth seeing if Mazin brings on anyone else to back him up — and if he does, if that person has experience with the game or is focused solely on the TV world. Someone with some distance from how the story was told in the games might be the right choice to help the show stand on its own.
Regardless of what happens, it'll be a while before we find out how this all shakes out — as Druckmann said, there's no "meaningful work" done on season 3 yet, so we will probably have to wait until 2027 to see how these changes impact the show.
Update, July 2, 2025, 2:45PM ET: Added statements from Halley Gross and Craig Mazin.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/the-last-of-us-co-creator-neil-druckmann-is-stepping-away-from-the-show-to-focus-on-future-games-182136370.html?src=rss
