The Last Of Us creator Neil Druckmann has distanced himself from the third and final season of the HBO adaptation, but teased more projects are “in the works”.
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Druckmann was co-writer and director on the first two seasons of HBO’s The Last Of Us adaptation. However, shortly after the season two finale aired, he announced he would be stepping back from the show alongside original game writer Halley Gross.
“Before any meaningful work starts on season three, now is the right time for me to transition my complete focus to Naughty Dog and its future projects, including writing and directing our exciting next game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, along with my responsibilities as Studio Head and Head of Creative,” Druckmann said in a statement at the time. “I’m deeply thankful for the thoughtful approach and dedication the talented cast and crew took to adapting The Last Of Us Part I and the continued adaptation of The Last Of Us Part 2.”
At the time, it was confirmed another member of staff from game developers Naughty Dog would still be involved in the writer’s room for season three but in a new interview, Druckmann has distanced himself from the project. “I wasn’t involved in shaping this season’s creative direction, and Naughty Dog did not have a creative role in the direction of this season,” he said in a new interview with The Washington Post.
Neil Druckmann has been focused on Intergalactic, and clarified to me that he and Naughty Dog are NOT involved in the creative direction of The Last of Us Season 3 on HBO.
This is in my piece dissecting why games writing is different from other media.
https://t.co/DiqnunJl6N pic.twitter.com/Aviypgttnz
— Gene Park (@GenePark) September 3, 2026
“It’s important for us to note that as the creator of the games, Naughty Dog is still the steward of this IP and even though this might be the end of this adaptation, we’re not done with The Last of Us,” he continued. “There’s a couple projects in the works that, when the time is right, I’m very excited to talk about.”
Earlier this year, Druckmann teased “the road ahead” for The Last Of Us after previously squashing talk of a third game in the survival series. An online The Last Of Us title was scrapped in 2023.
After sticking faithfully to the source material for the first season of The Last Of Us, gaming fans weren’t happy with some of the changes that were made for season two and viewership dropped by 55 per cent. Following the backlash, Bella Ramsey told critics not to watch the upcoming season three which is set to launch in 2027 and is expected to be the final chapter in the adaptation.
In other news, Donald Trump’s The White House has launched five politically-charged arcade titles inspired by retro classics and gamers aren’t happy: “A pathetic and shameful moment in American history.”
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