With The Last of Us coming in the form of a television series, there’s been a bit of speculation about the direction the series will take and whether it’ll serve the existing narrative penned by Naughty Dog’s team or be its own interpretation. Craig Mazin, who is attached as producer, has made the promise that the TV adaptation won’t undo the PlayStation game but rather serve to expand on it.
Speaking on a BBC Radio special focused on his latest HBO series Chernobyl, Mazin went into detail about the upcoming project and how he’s working with Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann in an attempt to adapt the game for the small screen while remaining true to the source material.
“I think fans of something worry that, when the property gets licensed to someone else, those people don’t really understand it or are going to change it,” explained Mazin.
“In this case, I’m doing it with the guy who did it and so the changes that we’re making are designed to fill things out and expand, not to undo, but rather to enhance.”
Mazin went on to explain that the project is a bit of a “dream come true” for him as a fan of the original game but went on to confess that he’s trepidatious about the project due to the strong emotions that so often surround The Last of Us and how it’s handled, perhaps alluding to the response to The Last of Us: Part II which was, for a time, a powder keg on social media.
“It’s kind of a dream come true for me,” said Mazin. “I’m a little bit scared because a lot of emotions connected to this game are rather intense. I think I’m probably going to go hide in a bunker for a while because you can’t make everyone happy.”
We’re not sure at this stage when the series is expected to debut, production was expected to begin after the release of The Last of Us: Part II but it’s unclear whether it has yet or not.