Craig Mazin

The Last of Us creators have teased that there is more to come from the acclaimed Alberta-shot HBO series beyond its previously confirmed second season.

In an interview with GQ about the March 12th Season 1 finale, creators and showrunners Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin were pressed on what’s to come. While the pair have confirmed that Season 2 will adapt The Last of Us Part II, the extent to which has remained unclear. When asked whether Season 2 will “span the entire course of the second game,” Druckmann said, “it’s more than one season.”

Although Mazin had previously teased that Part II is “more than a season’s worth of television,” this is the first time both he and Druckmann have definitively commented on there being multiple seasons in the works. Of course, the final say will come down to whether HBO renews the series again, but for now, at least, we know the creators are planning to tackle the story in this way. Given how popular it’s been so far, though — HBO’s second-biggest series premiere after only House of the Dragon — it’s not a stretch to think Season 2 will garner a similarly large audience.

Interestingly, though, the pair declined to specify whether this means we’re getting two or three more seasons. “You have noted correctly that we will not say how many,” responded Mazin with a laugh. “But more than one is factually correct.”

Those who have played both The Last of Us games will certainly understand Druckmann and Mazin’s reasoning. The first game is roughly 15 hours to complete, while the sequel is nearly 25 hours. Without getting into spoilers, Part II — which takes place five years after the first game — is also much more ambitious in its narrative structure, with many jumps in perspective and time periods.

While they didn’t provide any details on how they’re tackling this, they did acknowledge complaints that Season 1 didn’t have many infected creatures.

“Ultimately, we generally stressed the power of relationships and trying to find significance within moments of action,” Mazin said during a virtual press conference, via Variety. “And so there may be less action than some people wanted because we couldn’t necessarily find significance for quite a bit of it, or [there was] concern that it would be repetitive.”

However, he did tease that “it’s quite possible that there will be a lot more infected later. And perhaps different kinds” in Season 2.

It’s also worth noting that Laura Bailey, who plays a major new character in Part II named Abby, also made a cameo in the Season 1 finale. Druckmann and Mazin also teased that she could play a bigger role in future seasons, similar to what they gave to game actors Troy Baker (Joel), Ashley Johnson (Ellie) and Jeffrey Pierce (Tommy).

A release window for The Last of Us Season 2 has not yet been confirmed. Season 1 is currently streaming on Crave in Canada.

Image credit: HBO

Source: GQ

The creative team behind The Last of Us has opened up about how the people of Alberta responded to their year-long shoot in the province.

The comments came during Sony’s new ‘Creator to Creator’ series, which centres around a roundtable discussion behind some of the key figures behind HBO’s The Last of Us. This includes Neil Druckmann (co-creator of the show and game), Craig Mazin (co-creator of the series), Pedro Pascal (Joel), Bella Ramsey (Ellie) and Asad Qizilbash (head of PlayStation Productions).

In the first part of the series, Pascal mentioned how impressed he was that the production team “dressed entire areas of the downtown Edmonton and Calgary [areas].” In response, Ramsey smiled and said they “pissed off all the residents,” which elicited a chuckle from the group. “We shut off a highway!” Druckmann pointed out.

That said, Mazin noted that “they were so polite about it,” while Ramsey said “they loved it.” Pascal added that “they were really nice about it.”

This isn’t the first time The Last of Us team has praised Alberta. Speaking to MobileSyrup late last year, Mazin said the crew in the province was “fantastic,” while Pascal commended “the warmth and the dedication” of everyone involved. The series leads also said they loved the province’s landscapes, giving a special shoutout to the “magical little town” of Canmore.

Jeffrey Pierce, who plays Perry on the show and Tommy in the video games, also told us that his time in Calgary was “maybe my favourite experience filming [ever].” Meanwhile, production designer John Paino has said he was “shocked” at how “clean” Alberta was compared to the U.S.

Sony says Part 2 of the Creator to Creator series will drop next week, although it’s suggesting you watch the eighth episode, which premieres March 5th, beforehand.

Image credit: Sony

Source: Sony