The Last of Us HBO Series to Begin Full Production After The Last of Us Part 2 Releases

When HBO and PlayStation Productions announced The Last of Us TV series this month, the pair didn’t provide a release date, but did note the show is “coming soon.” Since then, more information has surfaced revealing further insight into what “soon” actually means. According to the series’ writer and producer, Craig Mazin, the show can’t begin full production until after Naughty Dog releases The Last of Us Part 2, which is scheduled to hit PS4 this May. It’s unclear why this limitation is in place, but it could be for multiple reasons. For one, perhaps PlayStation Productions doesn’t want the show stealing any oxygen from the game. Meanwhile, it could be because Neil Druckman, who is a part of the movie’s hierarchy, is simply way too busy getting the game out the door to be present for production. For those that don’t know: Druckmann is the co-creator and creative director of the video game series. Further, he’s not only a writer on the upcoming TV adaptation, but an executive producer.

“We can’t start on it right away because they’re still finishing up the second game… but we’re going to dig it in full, full earnest pretty soon,” said Mazin during a recent episode of his podcast, Scriptnotes.

Unfortunately, Mazin didn’t divulge any further salient details during the podcast, however, he has been quite active on Twitter. For example, the producer recently revealed that the show won’t be making any changes to Ellie, as well as what his 20 favorite video games are.

In other recent and related news, this week HBO and PlayStation Productions revealed the show’s composer will be Gustavo Santaolalla, who also serves as composer of the video game series.

The Last of Us is set to premiere at an unknown date via HBO. For more coverage on the show — including our picks for the castings of Joel and Ellie — be sure to peep all of our past and recent articles on the adaptation by clicking right here.