Neil Druckmann: Last News

Award-winning writer-directors Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin joined the Deadline FYC House event on Friday to discuss their HBO record-breaking drama, The Last of Us.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Following a bloody and harrowing season finale in March, “The Last of Us” is getting a digital and Blu-ray release, available to pre-order on Amazon today.

EXCLUSIVE: The Last of Us has zeroed in on its home base for season 2.

The Last of Us has become Sky’s biggest finale audience for a U.S. debut series of all time.

Jacqueline Lesko has been promoted to President of Production at Word Games — the production company founded by multiple Emmy-winning writer, producer and director Craig Mazin, which is best known for its work on HBO’s smash hit series Chernobyl and The Last of Us.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent “The Last of Us” has become the most-viewed title ever on HBO’s subscription streaming service in Europe. Warner Bros. Discovery announced on Tuesday that the first season of the nine-episode apocalyptic-drama has smashed HBO’s SVOD European viewer ratings. This result comes after the season one finale set another ratings high in the U.S. on Sunday night, delivering 8.2 million viewers across HBO Max and linear telecasts, based on Nielsen and first party data. The series, which is based on the critically acclaimed video game of the same name developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation, has been a hit from the get go. “The Last of Us” is now averaging 30.4 million viewers in the U.S. across its first six episodes, according to HBO, with the first episode approaching 40 million viewers in the U.S. Outside of the U.S.. The show is now also the most-watched show ever on HBO Max in Latin America.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor SPOILER ALERT: This contains spoilers from the Season 1 finale of “The Last of Us,” now streaming on HBO Max. Sunday’s season finale of “The Last of Us” tackled two of the video games most famous scenes: the giraffe moment and the final hospital shootout. Joel (Pedro Pascal) shoots his way through the Salt Lake City hospital as he upholds his commitment to saving Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and chooses her life over the future of humanity. In the final minutes of the episode, Joel decides to take Ellie away from the hospital, where her immunity to the deadly cordyceps fungus could’ve provided a cure, but in performing the operation, she would’ve died. Amid a hail of bullets from Firefly soldiers, Joel makes his choice to take Ellie back to Jackson, Wyo., and massacres nearly everyone in the hospital.

The Last of Us will take “more than one” season to adapt the video game’s sequel, The Last of Us: Part II. HBO’s post-apocalyptic drama was officially renewed for a second season in January, but its creators have revealed the events of Part II will span at least two seasons of television.

Jordan Moreau SPOILER ALERT: This contains spoilers from the Season 1 finale of “The Last of Us,” now streaming on HBO Max. “The Last of Us” was officially renewed for a Season 2 by HBO in January, but the creators are planning “more than one season” to tell the much larger story from the video game’s sequel, “The Last of Us: Part II.” Released on the PlayStation 4 in 2020, seven years after the original game debuted, “The Last of Us: Part II” tells a bigger, more complex story than its predecessor. There are many more characters, flashbacks and action set pieces, and the creators of the HBO adaptation, Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, confirmed to GQ that the events of “Part II” will span more than one season.

The Last Of Us faithfully adapts the acclaimed video game into a prestige post-apocalyptic drama series.Created by Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and the original game’s co-creator Neil Druckmann, the series follows Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) 20 years after modern civilisation has been ravaged by a deadly infection.The show also stars Gabriel Luna, Anna Torv, Merle Dandridge, Nico Parker, Murray Bartlett and Nick Offerman.Unlike the game, the HBO series provides a clear answer to the reason behind Ellie’s immunity. In episode nine, Look For The Light, a flashback with Ellie’s mother Anna (Ashley Johnson) shows her giving birth to Ellie shortly after being bitten by the infected.When Marlene (Merle Dandridge) later finds Anna and notices the bite mark, Anna lies and states that she cut the umbilical cord before she was bitten.

The Last Of Us will return for a second season on HBO.Created by Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and the original game’s co-creator Neil Druckmann, the series follows Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) 20 years after modern civilisation has been ravaged by a deadly infection.The first episode became HBO’s second biggest premiere in over a decade, behind House Of The Dragon, with 4.7million viewers in the US across HBO and HBO Max.HBO announced the show will return for a second season in January ahead of the third episode.“I’m humbled, honoured and frankly overwhelmed that so many people have tuned in and connected with our retelling of Joel and Ellie’s journey,” Druckmann said. “Now we have the absolute pleasure of being able to do it again with season two! On behalf of everyone at Naughty Dog & PlayStation, thank you!”The journey continues.

The Last Of Us closes out season one with the death of a key character.Created by Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and the original game’s co-director Neil Druckmann, the series follows Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) 20 years after civilisation has been ravaged by a deadly infection.The season finale, titled Look For The Light, saw Joel make a crucial decision to save Ellie from the Fireflies – resulting in a string of murders.Unfortunately, she’s super dead. As Marlene (Merle Dandridge) attempts to convince Joel that his choice to save Ellie was wrong – preventing humanity from finding a cure to the Cordyceps infection – Joel shoots Marlene in the stomach.The show cuts forward to a scene later where Joel lies to Ellie about what happened with the Fireflies, saying they had found other people who were immune and had failed to create a cure from them.

 came to a (temporary) end on Sunday night with the release of its season 1 finale. Aligned with the conclusion of video game, creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have now officially brought the entirety of the game's first installment to the screen. Sunday night's release left fans reeling after a violent hospital shootout. Joel realized that the Firefly doctors' intended procedure — to analyze the cordyceps in Ellie's brain in the hopes of finding a cure -- would have killed her, and took out the surgeon and several Firefly guards in order to rescue Ellie off the operating table and get her out of the hospital.However, when she wakes up after his killing spree, Joel lies to Ellie — telling her that the doctors' science has failed and she is no longer part of their plan.

SPOILER ALERT: The story includes details about Episode 9 of HBO’s The Last Of Us.

Now that The Last of Us has wrapped its first season on HBO Max, you probably have a few questions. Fortunately, series showrunner Craig Mazin and creator Neil Druckmann (who wrote the Sony Playstation Game on which the series is based) answered a few burning ones about the first nine episodes without giving anything away about season 2 (boo!). At least there will be one!

Jordan Moreau SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from the Season 1 finale of “The Last of Us,” now streaming on HBO Max. The world of “The Last of Us” just got its first major clue as to how Ellie, played by Bella Ramsey in HBO’s hit adaptation, became immune to the deadly cordyceps fungus. And, in a poetic, full-circle moment, the finale brought back actor Ashley Johnson, who originally starred as Ellie in “The Last of Us” video game, to play Ellie’s mother, Anna. The Season 1 finale opened with a flashback to Ellie’s birth — which had never been seen in the 2013 video game nor its 2021 sequel. Before Sunday night’s episode, there were no confirmed details about how Ellie became immune to cordyceps, and Anna had never appeared onscreen. In the episode’s surprise opening sequence, the season finale revealed that Anna was bitten by an infected person moments before giving birth to Ellie. Anna kills the assailant before cutting the umbilical cord, but those moments of connection may have created within Ellie a “chemical messenger” that “makes normal cordyeps think she’s cordyceps,” as Marlene (Merle Dandridge) later explains in the episode. (Dandridge is the only actor in “The Last of Us” who plays the same character that she did in the game.)

The Last Of Us has proved to be a major hit for HBO, and with the first season coming to a dramatic end, many will be eager to know if a second is on the horizon.Created by Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and the original game’s co-director Neil Druckmann, the series follows Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) 20 years after modern civilisation has been ravaged by a deadly infection.A synopsis reads: “The series takes place 20 years after modern civilisation has been destroyed. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone.“What starts as a small job soon become a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they both must traverse the US and depend on each other for survival.”Reviews for the first season have been extremely positive across the board, so it’s no surprise that many are already looking forward to a second run of the video game adaption.The Last Of Us will indeed return for a second season.

The Last of Us. Based on the hit video game from developer Naughty Dog and distributed by Sony, HBO’s nine-episode drama was an instant success when it debuted in January, earning rave reviews and the second highest ratings for a series premiere since 2010 with 4.7 million viewers across HBO and HBO Max. In fact, The Last of Us only grew more popular in the weeks after launch, notching higher ratings to reach 7.5 million viewers by the fourth episode. In the hands of series creators Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and Neil Druckmann (a co-creator of the original game), the show deftly balances the original, action-packed source material with the narrative nuance afforded by serial TV.

Joel and Ellie’s journey is just beginning. HBO’s The Last of Us is returning for a second season of post-apocalyptic adventures.

Even amid an unrelenting apocalyptic world, life finds a way. Ahead of The Last of Us Season 1 finale, HBO released a new image featuring a pregnant and seemingly stressed-out woman named Anna. Also known as Ellie’s mother, Anna is played by acclaimed voice actor and motion capture performer Ashley Johnson, who originated the role of Ellie Williams in the video game series. In the series, Ellie is portrayed by Bella Ramsey.

will return for season 2. HBO announced the renewal on Jan. 27, two weeks after its series premiere became the streamer's second-highest debut ever, behind.