While it’s unknown how HBO will handle The Last of Us Season 2, a recent comment did hint at how Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann are taking a big swing.
Speaking to Deadline in a recent profile on HBO, the company’s head of drama Francesca Orsi talked about the highly anticipated next season of The Last of Us.
While Orsi noted that not much could be said about The Last of Us Season 2 due to how little has been developed — and due to the ongoing writer’s strike, which has halted writing on the project — she did say that showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann (the latter of whom was a creator of the games) have “a good sense” for how to tackle it.
“There will be a couple of new pieces of casting, which I can’t get into. And of course, there isn’t much that we can go into on The Last of Us, given that Craig can’t really initiate in any meaningful way from a writing or casting standpoint,” said Orsi. “But he and Neil have a good sense of what it is that he’s going to be taking on. We’ll be moving the show from Calgary to Vancouver.”
Orsi went on to say that all she was able to say as of now is that the pair are “taking a big swing” from an entertainment standpoint, as well as when it comes to clickers, the zombie-like monsters that inhabit the show’s world.
“All I can say is he’s taking a big swing from both an entertainment standpoint, related to the clickers, but also just the more nuanced, complex character dynamic between our characters, Joel, Ellie and beyond.”
What do we know about The Last of Us Season 2?
While not a whole lot about The Last of Us Season 2 is known, we do know some things. Earlier this year, Mazin revealed that the creative team won’t be “constrained” by the source material of The Last of Us Part II.
“This should be fairly obvious to anyone by now, but I don’t fear killing characters,” said Mazin at the time. “But the important thing to note is that neither Neil nor I feel constrained by the source material.”
Mazin also revealed that Season 2 of The Last of Us will be split into multiple seasons, with the showrunner noting there was “no way” they could tell the entire story in just one season.
“I think we know what we’re doing on this one,” said Mazin. “I’m not saying that in snarky way, I’m saying that in a hopeful way. There are going to be things that are going to be different, and there are things that are going to be identical. There are things that are going to be added and enriched. There are some things that are going to be flipped. Our goal remains exactly what it was for the first season, which is to deliver a show that makes fans happy. We’ve got an incredible returning cast. It’s a daunting task. But Jesus, so was the first season. You can’t make everyone happy. But we’ve made a lot of people happy and that’s our intention to do it again.”