The Last Of Us' writers are "raring" to unleash more mushroom-based horrors upon the world

Co-showrunner and video game creator Neil Druckmann said season two of the HBO show is fully mapped out and ready to go whenever the strikes end

By Emma Keates  |  September 1, 2023 | 8:25pm
Aux News The Last Of Us
The Last Of Us' writers are
The Last Of Us Photo: HBO

If we had to pick the fictional world we’d least like to visit from the past year, the mushroom (and mushroom-monster) filled, apocalyptic hellscape of The Last Of Us immediately jumps out. So, naturally, Universal theme parks are celebrating spooky season by doing exactly that—welcoming visitors to a haunted house in which they can face down terrifying (and titillating?) bloaters, FEDRA agents, and other spore-filled foes. Still, it sounds like hardcore TLOU fans have a good reason to face their fears this year: it may be the only chance they get to glean some tidbits about the show’s much-anticipated season two, at least until the ongoing actors and writers strikes come to an end.

“My job is really strange,” said Neil Druckmann—co-director of both the TLOU video games and subsequent HBO adaptation—in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly. But while Druckmann went on to explain that consulting on the Universal attraction and working on a different game were keeping him plenty busy, fans of Ellie and Joel should be happy to know that season two has not been entirely sidelined. “We’ve outlined all of season two and we’re ready to go as soon as the strike ends,” the director said.

In addition, while the Universal house is specifically based on the TLOU game series rather than the show, Druckmann and a senior Universal Creative Director teased that “there’s cool stuff in there,” potentially hinting (at least according to EW) at some of the directions for season two (which will be based on the second installment of the game series).

Craig Mazin, Druckmann’s co-director on the show, said something to the same effect in a separate interview with EW last week. “We were able to map out all of season 2 [before the writers strike],” he said. “I also wrote and submitted the script for the first episode and sent it in [to HBO] around 10:30 or 10:40 p.m. right before the midnight [deadline] and the [WGA] strike began.”

“We are all raring to go,” Mazin continued. “This is what we are born to do. This is how we not only choose to live our lives, but I believe [how we] are compelled to live our lives. Otherwise, why the hell would we do this insane job? I can assure you it’s not for money.”

 
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