Things are getting a little weird when it comes to The Last of Us on HBO, the frequently Emmy-nominated video game adaptation that started strong, but wobbled a lot in season 2. Many would cite the reason for that wobbling to be Craig Mazin’s scripts this time around, the co-showrunner alongside Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann. And he was co-writing with the studio’s Halley Gross.
Well, things have changed. Druckmann and Gross have left the series, the reason being that they had to get back to work on video games (a big release, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, will be out in the next few years), but it was still an odd situation and many have speculated there might be more to it. Even if you’re busy, stepping away from the Emmy nominated series based on the most beloved game you’ve ever made is rather strange.
Now, Craig Mazin is talking about the upcoming third season of The Last of Us that he is handling solo. He’s previously spoken about how he will almost certainly need more than one more season to finish the game, meaning three seasons for the second game and just one for the first. But despite the fact that yes, Part II is a longer game, there are at least some indications now that maybe season 3 is going to wrap it up.
Mazin has now told THR that season 3 will be longer than the seven episodes of season 2, and “more on par” with season 1, which was nine episodes. He also says that he will be continuing to write as filming starts, which is apparently what happened before:
“[Previously] I finished writing about six weeks before we started shooting the last episode. I don’t necessarily recommend this method other than to say this works for me, but it is insane.”
I’m not sure everyone would agree that it does work, given all the script problems with season 2, but that may be what’s about to happen again. And if that’s what he did last time, that’s not exactly an indicator that there is going to be some significantly shortened gap between seasons, which may once again push to 2.5 years between them.
The issue that’s not really addressed here is just how different the show is going to be from the last two seasons, given that like the game, it will overwhelmingly focus on Kaitlyn Dever’s Abby character rather than Ellie, Dina, Tommy and the rest. It’s a long wait to return to a show with a cast no one will know. In the game, meanwhile, Ellie’s chapter ended and Abby’s chapter began a minute later. Trying to do the same for a TV show with a huge break will be…challenging for audiences to re-engage with, I imagine.
My guess would be HBO may want The Last of Us to end with one more season rather than two. It’s an enormously expensive show, and I don’t imagine they’re loving that they’ve lost talent like Druckmann and Gross. After season 2, I’m also not expecting viewership to go up. This is not to say that Mazin can’t do it all himself, but the fanbase is skeptical and there were very real problems with many of the episodes he wrote last season. The best one were the ones he co-wrote with Druckmann. We’ll see where this goes.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.