The Last of Us Co-Creator to Depart Ahead of Season 3: ‘Now Is the Right Time'
Neil Druckmann, who co-created both the HBO series and the video games on which it is based, announced Wednesday that he's departing the day-to-day operation of the series.
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'I've made the difficult decision to step away from my creative involvement in The Last of Us on HBO,' Druckmann said via statement that he also shared with his team at Naughty Dog, the video-game company behind The Last of Us' source material. '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 Profit, along with my responsibilities as a studio head and head of creative.
He continued: '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.'
In an additional statement to TVLine, he added: 'I look forward to HBO and PlayStation Productions continuing Ellie and Abby's story next season.'
TVLine has confirmed that Druckmann will not write or direct any Season 3 episodes but still will hold the title of co-creator and executive producer.
'It's been a creative dream to work with Neil and bring an adaptation of his brilliant work to life on HBO,' Mazin said in a separate statement. '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 [series writer/The Last of Us Part II writer] 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.'HBO renewed the dystopian drama for Season 3 in April, ahead of the Season 2 premiere. A Season 4 renewal has not yet been announced, though Mazin has said that Season 3 likely won't afford the show enough time and space to tell the rest of the story, indicating that the upcoming run of episodes might not be the series' last.
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