"The Last of Us" series adaptation has officially been greenlit at HBO.The project was first announced as being in development at the premium cabler back in March. Based on the video game of the same name, the series takes place twenty years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey, as they...
Naughty Dog
Neil
Druckmann
Co-President
Having honed his design prowess working on Naughty Dog’s “Uncharted” franchise for PlayStation, Druckmann created a new highlight for the studio with “The Last of Us,” which earned unanimous acclaim and strong sales in 2013. Delivering an ample follow-up proved arduous, but after multiple delays and reports of significant crunch, “The Last of Us Part II” bowed in June 2020 to even wider acclaim and a captive audience eager to let Druckmann’s fictional pandemic distract them from the real one. Negative review bombs from players upset by the game’s diverse cast of queer and POC characters didn’t stop it from selling over 4 million units in its first weekend, a good sign that HBO’s upcoming series adaptation of the games (co-written by Druckmann and “Chernobyl” scribe Craig Mazin) will garner a large audience. Plus, the game received seven accolades from The Game Awards 2020, including game of the year, proving Naughty Dog was right to promote Druckmann to co-president in December.