Neil Druckmann is stepping away from The Last of Us HBO series so that he can focus on his work at Naughty Dog, which marks the end of an era for the franchise. Druckmann has been largely entrenched in The Last of Us world for over a decade, serving as co-director for the original 2013 game, leading the charge on the highly controversial but critically-acclaimed Last of Us Part 2, and working on the HBO adaptation of the series in multiple roles.
Following the commercial and critical success of The Last of Us games, it made sense for HBO to move forward with an adaptation of the series. The Last of Us on HBO has similarly enjoyed a great deal of success, in no small part thanks to the involvement of Druckmann. Druckmann has written and directed various episodes of the TV show, and has even worked as co-showrunner. The Last of Us Season 2 aired earlier this year and while Season 3 is on the way, it will be made without Druckmann’s creative input.
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Naughty Dog Working on New Unannounced Game
Naughty Dog has a new IP in the works, currently being developed alongside the studio’s primary project, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.
Druckmann recently confirmed as much to his team at Naughty Dog, with the studio sharing the message on social media. Druckmann said that he made the “difficult decision” to step away from The Last of Us HBO series so that he can focus his attention on Naughty Dog’s current projects, namely the in-development sci-fi action game Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. Unless The Last of Us Part 3 is secretly in development or something, this marks the first time that Druckmann hasn’t been actively working on something Last of Us-related since development began on the original game all the way back in 2009. Needless to say, this marks a notable end of an era for the franchise.
Neil Druckmann is Leaving The Last of Us to Work on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet
Even though Druckmann has stepped away from The Last of Us HBO series, the show will continue with co-creator and showrunner Craig Mazin at the helm. Whereas The Last of Us Season 2 depicted the second game’s events from Ellie’s perspective, Season 3 will largely focus on Abby. A fourth season of the show is expected to wrap up The Last of Us Part 2‘s story. After that, there will be no more source material to adapt, so one has to imagine that will be the end of The Last of Us on HBO.
Unless, of course, The Last of Us Part 3 ever materializes. Naughty Dog is believed to be working on multiple projects, not just Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, and so it stands to reason that one of the game could very well be a third Last of Us game. If so, that would give HBO the chance to produce more seasons of The Last of Us TV series, but fans should keep their expectations in check. Right now, all that’s been confirmed is that Naughty Dog’s next game is Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet and Druckmann is stepping away from his creative duties on the Last of Us TV series.