The Last of Us Creator, Neil Druckmann, Stepping Back From TV Version

With the second season of HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us now in the rearview, Studio Head and Head of Creative at Naughty Dog, Neil Druckmann, has announced that he’s stepping away from the show.

While the first season of the cult video game TV adaptation was met with rave reviews, the second came under fire for messing with character development and story beats just a little too much. Druckmann has, via Naughty Dog’s X (Twitter) account, made a statement on his recent decision.

“I’ve made the difficult decision to step away from my creative involvement in The Last of Us on HBO,” he said. “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.”

It’s The End of The World As We Know It

Created by game studio Naught Dog, The Last of Us launched in September 2002, and quickly attracted rave reviews from players and critics alike for its nuanced central storyline. Set after a deadly fungus takes over most of the world and mutates people into gnarly mushroom zombies, The Last of Us follows former construction worker Joel as he’s tasked with escorting Ellie, who’s immune to the fungus, to a special lab miles away.

Along the way, Joel goes from a gruff mercenary to surrogate father figure, with a shocking ending that potentially keeps the world doomed. A TV version was announced in March 2020, with Druckmann joining Craig Mazin (creator of the critically-acclaimed Chernobyl series) to make it. It aired on HBO Max in January 2023 and quickly garnered positive reviews across the board.

Part of its allure, for those who had played the game, was seeing how certain scenes and characters would be translated to TV. Overall, players were happy with how events followed the game, although the Long, Long Time episode proved divisive for offering a sweet, romantic look at characters Bill and Frank that the game only ever alluded to. 

Objectively a well-crafted hour of television, it unfortunately drew complaints from the less savoury side of the fandom, who also proved vocal during season two of the TV series. 

Go Woke Or Go Broke

Although the second The Last of Us game makes it very clear from the start that Ellie is a lesbian, for some reason this aspect of the TV show set a lot of people off, as Long, Long Time did in the first season. In terms of Druckmann’s recent announcement, people have been quick to call him out on his supposed wokeness.

“Bro, it’s time for him to step down from Naughty Dog. We are done with his WOKE games,” said X user Hvitdverg. This sentiment was echoed by a sizable number of other users, who referred to the Naughty Dog studio head as “Cuckmann.”

However, some were a little more levelheaded. “Season 2 genuinely was a terrible interpretation of many core character moments and beats, despite a talented cast doing their best,” said a user going by, simply, Tom. “It did the game a disservice but equally, every time Mazin opens his mouth, it’s clear where the blame should lie so honestly this is wise.”

Reddit has also been alive with criticism, although not as toxic as that platform can often be. “The show is awful, no arguing about that, but to say it’s bad because it’s woke is just ridiculous. It’s been going downhill since it started. Garbage writing, terrible casting choices, plot changes and holes, etc. This show makes me somehow appreciate the second game,” said user Keenzur.

“It didn’t suddenly become bad because they showed a rainbow.”

Abandon Ship

There are only two The Last of Us video games, both well-received, and Druckmann has gone on record multiple times to state that he has no intention of doing a third game. That hasn’t stopped Mazin and HBO from revealing that the show could easily be at least four seasons.

“I think there’s a decent chance that Season 3 will be longer than Season 2, just because the manner of that narrative and the opportunities it affords us are a little different,” Mazin said in an interview with Collider in May this year. “But certainly, there’s no way to complete this narrative in a third season. Hopefully, we’ll earn our keep enough to come back and finish it in a fourth.”

For his part, Druckmann’s recent statement is gracious towards Mazin. “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 I and the continued adaptation of The Last of Us Part II.”

Druckmann isn’t the only person leaving the show, though. Halley Gross, a co-writer on The Last of Us Part II game, and an executive producer and writer on the HBO series, announced via Instagram that she’ll also be moving on. 

“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.”

Next Steps

Druckmann is now busy working on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. This follows a bounty hunter, Jordan, who ends up stranded on Sempiria. 

Communication with the outside universe went dark hundreds of years ago, so Jordan will have to use all her skills and wits if she hopes to be the first person in over 600 years to leave Sempiria’s orbit.