The Final of Us co-creator Neil Druckmann is stepping away from the present to deal with future video games

Neil Druckmann, head of the PlayStation studio Naughty Canine and co-creator of The Final of Us, is stepping away from the HBO present based mostly on the 2013 recreation and its 2020 sequel to focus his work on Naughty Canine’s subsequent recreation. On Instagram, the studio revealed the next assertion from Druckmann:

“I’ve made the troublesome determination to step away from my involvement in The Final of Us on HBO. With work accomplished on season 2 and earlier than any significant work begins on season 3, now’s the proper time for me to transition my full focus to Naughty Canine and its future tasks, together with writing and directing our thrilling subsequent recreation, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, together with my tasks as Studio Head and Head of Inventive.”

He went on to thanks showrunner Craig Mazin (on the left within the above photograph) in addition to the forged and crew he labored with on the primary two seasons and known as engaged on the present a “profession spotlight” Druckmann was credited as govt producer and co-creator of the present and he directed one episode in every of the present’s two seasons in addition to contributing writing to a number of others. The majority of the present itself was written by Mazin.

The Ankler first revealed Druckmann’s assertion shortly earlier than it was formally launched by Naughty Canine.

Shortly after Druckmann’s assertion was launched, The Final of Us Half II co-writer Halley Gross (who had additionally co-written a number of episodes in season two of the present) introduced she additionally wouldn’t be shifting ahead with the HBO adaptation.

“With nice care and consideration, I’ve determined to take a step again from my day-to-day work on HBO’s The Final of Us to create space for what comes subsequent. I’m so appreciative of how particular this expertise has been. Working alongside Neil, Craig, HBO, and this exceptional forged and crew has been life altering. The tales we instructed — about love, loss, and what it means to be human in a terrifying world — are precisely why I really like this franchise. I’ve some really rad tasks forward that I can’t wait to share, however for now, I need to categorical my gratitude to everybody who introduced Ellie and Joel’s world to life with such care.”

Lastly, Mazin himself shared a press release, as revealed in Selection:

“It’s been a inventive dream to work with Neil and produce an adaptation of his good work to life on HBO. I couldn’t have requested for a extra beneficiant inventive companion. As a real fan of Naughty Canine and Neil’s work in video video games, I’m past excited to play his subsequent recreation. Whereas he focuses on that, I’ll proceed to work with our good forged and crew to ship the present our viewers has come to anticipate. We’re so grateful to Neil and Halley Gross for entrusting the unimaginable story of The Final of Us Half II to us, and we’re simply as grateful to the tens of millions of individuals all over the world who tune in.”

This comes after a reasonably rocky reception for The Final of Us season two. The problem of adapting the story of the second online game led to some choices that did not sit properly with each followers of the video games in addition to those that have been new to the world through the present. And, maybe unsurprisingly, there was additionally an inordinate quantity of on-line vitriol directed in direction of Druckmann and Mazin for a number of the modifications they made to adapt the sport right into a TV sequence.

Individually, I assumed season two was well-done, with continued glorious appearing however points with tempo due partly to it solely being seven episodes lengthy. However I can even agree there are a variety of truthful criticisms to make about how the present was plotted — it most likely caught too carefully to the timeline of the sport, and the finale left issues up within the air to what should be a irritating diploma for individuals who do not know the storyline from enjoying the video games.

That stated, Druckmann co-wrote and directed among the finest episodes of your entire sequence (season two’s “The Value”) and did strong behind-the-camera work in season one’s “Contaminated” as properly. To not point out the truth that he is aware of these characters higher than mainly anybody alive — it is believable to surprise simply how issues will change with out his affect going ahead. Alternatively, this modification would possibly re-focus the present’s inventive group and assist appropriate components of season two the place issues simply did not land as followers had hoped. It is too early to inform, however it’ll be value seeing if Mazin brings on anybody else to again him up — and if he does, if that particular person has expertise with the sport or is concentrated solely on the TV world. Somebody with a ways from how the story was instructed within the video games is perhaps the proper selection to assist the present stand by itself.

No matter what occurs, it will be some time earlier than we learn the way this all shakes out — as Druckmann stated, there isn’t any “significant work” achieved on season 3 but, so we are going to most likely have to attend till 2027 to see how these modifications impression the present.

Replace, July 2, 2025, 2:45PM ET: Added statements from Halley Gross and Craig Mazin.