The first season of the HBO adaptation of The Last of Us has just ended, registering record numbers on the TV channel/streaming service. According to Variety, the final episode was seen by 8.2 million viewers despite airing while ABC was broadcasting the Oscars ceremony.
The first season as a whole was the biggest ever streamed on HBO Max, with an audience of 30.4 million viewers over its first six episodes which surpassed House of the Dragon’s 29 million viewers, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
On top of that, the adaptation of The Last of Us has received widespread acclaim thanks to its faithful retelling of the groundbreaking story originally conceived by Naughty Dog. On the Internet Movie Database, the first season currently rocks a 9/10 user rating; on Rotten Tomatoes, the HBO show by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann sports a 96% score from critics and an 89% score from the audience.
Neil Druckmann, creator of the games at Naughty Dog, appeared on Kinda Funny’s latest Spoilercast episode to answer a few questions about Season 2 (which we know will be only half of the adaptation of The Last of Us Part II). However, he also talked a bit about what’s going on on the game development side. Druckmann is well aware that fans would like to see The Last of Us Part III, but he could neither confirm nor deny that will be the next project from the studio. He only said Naughty Dog chose what it would be doing next based on the team’s excitement rather than any other factor.
At the end of every project, we purposely explore several different projects. Some of them might be a sequel, and then a bunch of new ideas. And then we really feel where our passions lie because that’s the fire that has to sustain for years to come. If you pick the wrong project and then you burn out from that idea because you don’t have that passion for it two years into a four-year project, you’re f*cked. That leads to making mediocre anything if you lose your excitement for it.
I know the fans really want The Last of Us Part III; I hear about it all the time. All I can say is that – look, we’re already into our next project. The decision has already been made. I can’t say what it is, but that’s the process we went through. There was a lot of consideration of different things and we picked the thing we were most excited for.
Druckmann also commented on the standalone The Last of Us multiplayer game. There will be a detailed reveal later this year, he said, before adding that it was a new experience for him since he isn’t directing or writing this project.
The Last of Us multiplayer game is our next big title and you will hear much more about it later this year. I’m stoked for it. That was a new experience for me personally because it’s the first The Last of Us game that I am not the primary writer, I am not the director, so I get to see it more from the side while I’m more in a producer role or a mentor role. That is exciting. What the team has put together is so cool. It’s very different from what I would do because it was made by different people, but that to me is part of the excitement. I get to see other people play in this world in a leadership role and see how it comes together. I can’t wait to be able to show it off.
Druckmann has previously said The Last of Us multiplayer will be the most ambitious game Naughty Dog has ever done. With such lofty claims, we can’t wait to find out all the details. Until then, stay tuned.
