Though the first season of The Last of Us was mostly well-received by fans of the Naughty Dog video games, the second came in for a significant amount of criticism.
Season 2 was pretty faithful to the story of The Last of Us Part II game, but a lot of fans took issue with Ellie's characterization. While it's important to note that some people have never accepted Bella Ramsey in the role (their reasons vary), the backlash definitely intensified during the later episodes.
Speaking on The Awardist podcast, Ramsey said that they try not to pay too much attention to the online criticism, but did offer some sound advice for those who have a problem with the show.
“I try to steer clear as much as I [can], to be honest. You don't have to watch it. If you hate it that much, the game exists. You can just play the game again. If you do want to watch it, hope you enjoy it.”
The Last of Us will be back for at least one more season, but Neil Druckmann, the creator of the video games and co-creator of the HBO series, recently revealed that he will be exiting the show. The announcement was followed by the news that writer Halley Gross, who penned The Last of Us Part II video game alongside Druckmann, had also decided to step away.
“He'll be obviously greatly missed the show, and the story is his heart and soul," Ramsey said of Druckmann's departure. "So, he's still, he's still very much there with us. I mean, he is The Last of Us.”
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 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 at the time. “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 of 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 came 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.