Craig Mazin, one of the showrunners of HBO’s The Last of Us television series, has hinted that Season 2 of The Last of Us on HBO will be split into two parts if not more.
Mazin made this revelation during a red carpet interview with IGN earlier in the month. In his words, "It's a big animal [The Last of Us Part II] to take apart, you know? Because it's a much bigger story and it's a more complicated story. It's a beautiful story. It's more than a season's worth of television, for sure."
HBO's The Last of Us is a live-action adaptation of the Naughty Dog game of the same name. The show debuted on HBO on January 15 and will run until March 12. At the moment, only three of its nine episodes have aired but that hasn’t stopped it from garnering incredible reviews from critics and audiences alike. It currently has a 96% approval rating from 193 critics and a 93% approval rating from 6189 viewers on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Last of Us has also broken several records over the three weeks of its existence. For one, the show debuted as the second-highest-watched series in HBO’s history with 4.7 million viewers on its first day only behind House of the Dragon which recorded a viewership of 10 million. The Last of Us performed even better the following day and more than doubled its viewership with a count of 10 million. Furthermore, about one million additional viewers tuned in for the show’s second season which aired a week later.
Following the show’s rave reviews and impressive viewership numbers, HBO had no choice but to renew it for another season. Last Friday, the network finally announced the renewal, although it came after multiple hints from a lead star and one of the showrunners.
The Last of Us television series, much like the game, tells the story of a smuggler, Joel, and his ordeal escorting Ellie, a girl that potentially holds the key to a cure for a fungus-infected post-apocalyptic world.
So far, the series has largely stayed true to the game, as promised by the showrunners. Nevertheless, it has made a few key changes, including the origin of Cordyceps and their means of transmission. In the game, the fungus originated in South America and was spread via both biting and inhalation of spores. However, the television series places its origin as Jakarta, Indonesia, and limits its transmission to being bitten alone.
In other news, the creator of The Last of Us and co-creator of the television series recently revealed they might not be done with the game series. He stated they will only develop a third installment of the highly-acclaimed title if they can come up with a compelling story.
The Last of Us episode 4 will air on HBO on Sunday, February 5.
