The Last of Us TV Show Won’t Adapt Anything Beyond the Games

HBO’s The Last of Us has no plans to adapt anything that isn’t directly a part of the games. The Last of Us is one of the best video games of the last decade, which meant Hollywood was quick to see dollar signs all around it. The game was nearly adapted into a movie with Sam Raimi behind the camera, but it fell apart and eventually turned into an HBO TV series. With the show nearly here, many have begun to wonder how it will be structured. The first season will adapt the entire first game and expand on it a bit, but what does that mean for the second season? Could we see the story between the first and second games or an all-new adventure?

Probably not! Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, showrunner Craig Mazin and series creator Neil Druckmann are very keen on sticking to the story that Naughty Dog created and not falling into the trap that Game of Thrones did. For those that missed it, Game of Thrones outpaced the books, so it had to make up the story for the last couple of seasons, including the ending. Unfortunately, that didn’t pan out well for the show. Mazin also noted that he doesn’t want to drag it out for the sake of having it go on for a long time, which means season two will probably just jump right into The Last of Us Part II‘s story. If that’s the case, though, we may be waiting for a third season for quite some time given The Last of Us Part III is seemingly years away.

“We have no plans to tell any stories beyond adapting the games,” said Druckmann. “We won’t run into the same issue as Game of Thrones since Part II doesn’t end on a cliffhanger.” Mazin added: “I don’t have any interest in a spinning-plates-go-on-forever show. When it becomes a perpetual motion machine, it just can’t help but get kind of … stupid. Endings mean everything to me.”

The Last of Us is set to air on HBO on January 15th, 2023. From there, it seems like the show will be faithful to the games, but it has been confirmed there will be new content. There are new characters, scenes, and other add-ons to help expand the story, but it doesn’t seem like the team behind the series is keen on actually changing the core beats.

What do you want to see from The Last of Us season 2? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.