The glorious post-apocalyptic experience that was The Last of Us was released way back in 2013. The following year saw Sony announcing a movie based on the franchise as well. However, despite a sequel to the original game having been readied in the meantime, the movie was still hanging in limbo until earlier this month, when it was announced that it’s now an HBO series. But what led to the film turning into a TV show? Writer Craig Mazin has an answer.
If that name sounds familiar to you, Craig Mazin is the creator of HBO’s highly acclaimed mini-series from last year, Chernobyl. From one post-apocalyptic setting to another, Craig will be writing this show alongside Naughty Dog VP, Neil Druckmann. While speaking to the Scriptnotes podcast (via Games Radar), Craig said, “My feeling was ‘you can’t make a movie out of this, it has to be a show. It needs length.’ It’s about the development of a relationship over a long journey, so it has to be a television show – and that’s that, that’s the way I see it. Happily, Neil agreed and HBO was delighted. So, here we are.”
Mazin also said that the work on The Last of Us TV show can’t start right away because Naughty Dog is hard at work getting Part II ready for its already-delayed release date of May 29. Development on the series can hence start only after the game has been launched, so expect very few details about it in the meantime. The Last of Us Part II tells the story of a now grown-up Ellie, who has gotten into a conflict with a mysterious cult.
The Last of Us Part II is of course, a PS4 exclusive, but there will most definitely be a version of it for the PS5 after it’s released. As for the HBO TV show, we’ll bring you more details on the same as soon as we have them.