Ahead of The Last of Us season 3, Neil Druckmann announced last month that he would be stepping away from the HBO series to focus on the studio's upcoming gaming title, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, as well as other video game projects. This shocking news certainly threw a spanner into the show's loyal fanbase as they worry whether the continuation of the post-apocalyptic series might be in jeopardy without Druckmann behind the wheel. Now, Bella Ramsey, who plays Ellie, opens up about Druckmann's exit for the first time since the surprise news.
Druckmann, who is the studio head of Naughty Dog, announced in a recent statement that he wouldn't be a part of the HBO adaptation series any longer and instead revealed that he would be putting his "complete focus" on the studio's gaming title, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. Halley Gross, who wrote for The Last Of Us Part 2 as well as co-writing the sixth and seventh episodes in season 2 with Druckmann and Craig Mazin, also decided to jump ship to pursue her own projects. With Mazin left to steer the ship, season 3 will delve into Abby's side of the narrative as fans wait to see how the third installment turns out without the game's force behind it.
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Bella Ramsey Says Druckmann’s Influence Won’t Go Away Just Because He Left HBO's The Last of Us
In a recent interview with Variety, HBO's The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey has finally broken their silence on Neil Druckmann's departure from the Emmy Award-winning series for the first time since his announcement. Ramsey revealed that even though Druckmann decided to move on from the show, The Last of Us will "always be his creation", before stating that they would miss him on the set but that "his spirit" would remain within the story going forward.
"The world of The Last of Us is his creation, and so his voice and creative input. It doesn’t just go away in season 3 because he’s not as actively involved. It will always be his creation. And we’re always in everything that we do, honoring the game and Neil’s creation. He’ll definitely be missed on set. But his spirit is the story,"
Bella has had to get accustomed to loss in The Last of Us as they also had to say goodbye to Pedro Pascal's Joel, who was killed off pretty quickly in season 2, episode 2, “Through the Valley,” at the hands of Abby, who sought vengeance for her father's death and the massacre at the Firefly hospital. Not only did both characters have incredible on-screen chemistry, but that translated into real life too, as the pair became good friends. Now with the loss of the show's creator, it must feel pretty tough, but it seems as though Bella is handling it pretty well.
Druckmann leaving the show is certainly a huge creative shake-up that will affect The Last Of Us Season 3, but how much will remain to be seen and what it will mean for its possible fourth and final season. However, on the flip side, Mazin did a pretty awesome job at Chernobyl, so there's no doubt about his talents, which will hopefully be brought to light for The Last of Us season 3, where the story will focus on Abby.
There is currently no release date for The Last of Us season 3; it will likely be a while since filming hasn't started yet. However, Mazin previously revealed that he thinks a fourth season of The Last of Us is called for to navigate its storyline properly.
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The Last of Us showrunner is not keen on impressing the diehard video game fans when it comes to the second season of the hit TV series.
- Release Date
- January 15, 2023
- Network
- HBO
- Showrunner
- Craig Mazin
Cast
-
Pedro PascalJoel Miller -
Bella RamseyEllie Williams
WHERE TO WATCH
- Directors
- Craig Mazin, Peter Hoar, Jeremy Webb, Ali Abbasi, Mark Mylod, Stephen Williams, Jasmila Žbanić, Liza Johnson, Nina Lopez-Corrado
- Writers
- Neil Druckmann, Craig Mazin, Halley Wegryn Gross
- Franchise(s)
- The Last of Us
- Creator(s)
- Neil Druckmann, Craig Mazin
Source: Variety