The Last of Us co-creator exits HBO series ahead of season three

The Last of Us co-creator Neil Druckmann is leaving the hit HBO series starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey ahead of season three.

The Last of Us TV series recently concluded its divisive second season, which in turn is based on the first half of its equally divisive source material, the 2020 PlayStation game The Last of Us Part II.

Starring Ramsey as the punchy Ellie Williams and Fantastic Four star Pascal as gruff smuggler Joel Miller (well, for the first two episodes anyway), the season saw a ratings dip from its first season (based on 2013’s The Last of Us).

Both of the video games were created by Naughty Dog studios, of which Neil Druckmann is head – and Druckmann also co-created and showran the TV series alongside Craig Mazin for its first two seasons.

But in a statement, Druckmann has revealed his departure from the show’s third season, which will focus on Part II‘s latter half, and follow antagonist-and-protagonist Abby Anderson (Kaitlyn Dever).

“I’ve made the difficult decision to step away from my creative involvement in The Last of Us on HBO. 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,” the statement said.

It continues: “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. I’m deeply thankful of the thoughtful approach and dedication the talented cast and crew took to adapting The Last of Us Part I and their continued adaptation of The Last of Us Part II. I look forward to HBO and PlayStation Productions continuing Ellie and Abby’s story next season.”

Druckmann will reportedly retain Executive Producer and co-creator credits on season three.

Mazin’s own statement read: “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.”

The post-apocalyptic series sees its characters fight for survival – and revenge – in a United States ravaged by cordyceps, a fungus that turns anyone infected into violent, angry mushroom-zombies.

Mazin previously teased that the show might need another two seasons to fully do the narrative of The Last of Us Part II justice.

“It would take forever [to complete the story in season three],” Mazin told Collider at the time. “There are natural perforations in the narrative where you can go, ‘Okay, let’s tear it here.’ I think there’s a decent chance that Season 3 will be longer than Season 2, just because the manner of that narrative and the opportunities it affords us are a little different.

“…But certainly, there’s no way to complete this narrative in a third season. Hopefully, we’ll earn our keep enough to come back and finish it in a fourth. That’s the most likely outcome.”

The show’s second season, a queer fan favourite, saw Ramsey and Pascal alongside new and returning characters to the TV adaptation, including Ellie’s girlfriend Dina (Isabela Merced) and Gale (Catherine O’Hara).

Episode four of The Last of Us featured a sex scene between Ellie and Dina, and has been subsequently review-bombed by homophobes, despite being faithful to the source material video game.

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