‘The Last of Us’ Co-Creator Neil Druckmann to Exit HBO Series
A show known for its devastating character departures now has a big one behind the scenes: The Last of Us co-showrunner Neil Druckmann is exiting the HBO hit series.
The move leaves his co-creator Craig Mazin as the show’s sole showrunner going into a third season. Druckmann will continue to carry a co-creator and executive producer credit on the show.
The shakeup comes on the heels of a divisive second season, which surprisingly declined a bit in the ratings (though, to be fair, the season was based strongly on the second PlayStation game, The Last of Us Part Two, which likewise sold less than the first game).
Druckmann said in a statement: “I’ve made the difficult decision to step away from my creative 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.”
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Continued Druckmann: “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 of the thoughtful approach and dedication the talented cast and crew took to adapting The Last of Us Part I and their continued adaptation of The Last of Us Part II. I look forward to HBO and PlayStation Productions continuing Ellie and Abby’s story next season.”
Mazin also had a statement: “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.”
The Last of Us showrunners previously gave a joint interview about the season two finale in June which included Druckmann teasing what as to come in season three. “We’re telling you that next season, there’s an epic nature to everything that’s about to happen,” Druckmann said at the time.”
Druckmann was a creative leader on The Last of Us games for Naughty Dog and teamed with Mazin to create and launch the TV series version. The Last of Us has been a big critical and commercial success for HBO, and is expected to be a strong Emmy contender. News of the split was first reported by The Ankler.
