Neil Druckmann, the creator of The Last of Us video games and co-creator of the HBO series, has revealed that he will be exiting the show ahead of its third season.
The announcement was followed by the news that writer Halley Gross, who penned The Last of Us Part II video game alongside Druckmann, has also decided to step away.
Druckmann was heavily involved with the first two seasons of the survival horror drama series as a showrunner, writer and executive producer alongside co-creator Craig Mazin, but has now decided to end his involvement in order to dedicate “complete focus” to Naughty Dog and the developer's future video game projects (whether one of those projects will turn out to be a third The Last of Us game remains to be seen).
“I’ve made the difficult decision to step away from my creative involvement in The Last of Us on HBO,” Druckmann said in a statement. “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.”
“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,” he added.
In a statement on his own, Mazin said: “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 development is sure to come as a surprise to fans of the acclaimed series. It's not clear how or if the creative direction of season 3 will be impacted by these departures, but Mazin is expected to continue the show by following the story mapped out in the second game.
“Abby is the hero of her story,” Mazin said in a recent interview. “Wherever we go next, we’ll always be centering on somebody, whether it’s Ellie and Dina, or Abby and Owen … [But] everything is under the cloud or sunlight of Joel — what Joel did to Abby and what Abby did to Joel.'”
Many believe that there is more to Druckmann and Gross' exists than their statements suggest, and if this is the case, more details are sure to come to light at a later date.