Neil Druckmann Is Leaving ‘The Last Of Us’ Season 3, Craig Mazin Goes Solo

InnovationGamingNeil Druckmann Is Leaving ‘The Last Of Us’ Season 3, Craig Mazin Goes SoloByPaul Tassi, Senior Contributor

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Well, a new report from The Ankler says that Druckmann is leaving The Last of Us season 3 entirely and will hand everything over to Mazin now

Here’s what Druckmann told The Ankler: “I’ve made the difficult decision to step away from my creative involvement in The Last of Us on HBO

With work on season two and before any meaningful work starts on season three, now is the right time for me to transition my complete focus to Naughty Dog and its future jects, including writing and directing our exciting next game, Intergalactic: The Heretic phet, along with my responsibilities as studio head and head of creative,” Druckmann said in a statement to The Ankler his decision, which he planned to with Naughty Dog staff Wednesday. “Co-creating the show has been a career highlight

It’s been an honor to work alongside Craig Mazin to executive duce, direct and write on the last two seasons

I’m deeply thankful of the thoughtful apach 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 ductions continuing Ellie and Abby’s story next season. ” The Last of UsHBO MORE FOR YOU While it’s understandable that Druckmann needs to shift his focus to the enormous AAA game Intergalactic: The Heretic phet, this leaves the Emmy-winning HBO series in a tough spot, given how unsteady Mazin has been with the source material the characters

Mazin has said that it will take at least two more seasons in order to finish out The Last of Us Part II

There are not any reported creative differences between the duo, just that Druckmann has responsibilities at Naughty Dog, it seems

The Last of Us is to enter a tough new era where it will be at least two years from now that the show will return, and do so without the core cast as it focuses on the just-introduced character of Abby for what is ly to be almost all of season 3

This is how the game worked, yes, but with TV being a different format and these expansive breaks between seasons, it’s a big issue

Then, we’ll have another season another 2-2. 5 years after that, it seems

Not that Mazin can’t make good seasons by himself, but Druckmann was ly a big part of why the series worked, especially in season 1 and in his limited episodes in season 2

Things look shaky from here

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