At the beginning of the month, Naughty Dog and Neil Druckmann announced that Druckmann would be stepping away from his role with HBO's The Last of Us, to put his full efforts back to his day job, being the studio head of Naughty Dog and working on their next project, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.
In an interview with Variety, HBO chairman and chief executive officer Casey Bloys spoke about what Druckmann's departure means for the show from their perspective, and for Bloys, Druckmann leaving the show doesn't seem to be a huge concern.
"Obviously it was great to have Neil involved in the beginning," Bloys began. "The whole reason that I wanted to do 'Last of Us' is after 'Chernobyl,' I said to Craig [Mazin], 'What do you want to do next?' And 'Last of Us' was what he wanted to do. That's what was most important to me, Craig's creative excitement about the show. It was fantastic to have Neil involved. A lot of people don't realize that Neil has a full time job creating video games and running Naughty Dog. It's a really big job that he's got. So I understand why he needs to focus on that. But I believe he's given us a good blueprint with the show. And obviously Craig is a pro, so I think we'll be in excellent shape. I'm not worried at all."
Bloys continued to say that season 3 of the show is slated to arrive in 2027, and whether there will be a fourth season is up to showrunner Craig Mazin. "I'm following Craig's lead on that," Bloys said.
Druckmann's departure might be cause for concern for some viewers, but it's not surprising that Bloys isn't outwardly concerned, especially since the show was just nominated for 16 Emmy Awards, bringing the series total up to 40 nominations between two seasons.
Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal both picked up Emmy nominations for lead actress and actor in a drama series, respectively. Kaitlyn Dever also picked up a nomination for outstanding guest actress in a drama series, while the overall show was nominated for outstanding drama. Other notable nominations among the 16 include nominations for prosthetics and makeup, special effects, and Catherine O'Hara also getting a nomination for her guest role in the show.
Any major production is a team effort, and while Druckmann's involvement was clearly an important part of the show's first two seasons, it's not like it earned 40 Emmy nominations based on Druckmann's efforts alone. There's a whole team of people who are making this show, and it'll be interesting to see how Mazin continues the story, without Druckmann leaning over his shoulder and weighing in on the details as much as he might've been for the first two seasons.
And players can rejoice over the fact that, hopefully, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will arrive on time in its current release window slated for 2026.
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