Naughty Dog studio head Neil Druckmann has announced that he is stepping back from his role with HBO’s The Last Of Us to bring his full focus back to Naughty Dog and its future projects, including the studio’s upcoming game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.
The news was announced with a statement from Druckmann and Naughty Dog on the official X account for the studio. “I’ve made the difficult decision to step away from my creative involvement in The Last of Us on HBO,” Druckmann began.
“With work completed on season 2 and before any meaningful work starts on season 3, 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.
Co-creating the show has been a career highlight. It’s been an honor to work alongside Craig Mazin to executive produce, direct and write on the last two seasons. 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 II.”
Since HBO began working on its adaptation of The Last of Us, Druckmann has been straddling his work at Naughty Dog with work on the show. He’s written and directed episodes alongside his duties as an executive producer, and been the co-showrunner alongside Craig Mazin over the course of the first two seasons. With Druckmann stepping away from the show, Naughty Dog is officially not meaningfully involved in how HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us Part II continues with season 3 and beyond.
It’ll be interesting to see if Druckmann returns to the show to direct an episode here or there in season 3 or season 4, or if he really is watching from the sidelines for the rest of the adaptation. That he’s made this announcement at all is also a bit surprising, considering how involved he’s been so far. His first responsibility was always to Naughty Dog, so perhaps it became evident that he could no longer dedicate time to the show while things ramped up at Naughty Dog on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.
If that is the case, then that raises questions as to how successful Druckmann was at being able to juggle his duties at Naughty Dog and on the show, and if this decision to step back from the show is due to him ultimately being unable to properly balance the two. That’s all just speculation of course, and we’ll likely never know the real truth of the matter, but for Druckmann to leave before the job is done on the adaptation, so to speak, shows that he had to make a choice about where he’s spending his time.
