Neil Druckmann seemingly confirmed as one of The Last of Us HBO series' directors

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Not just a co-writer

Close up on the face of Ellie from The Last of Us
(Image credit: Naughty Dog)

It looks like Neil Druckmann may direct at least one episode of The Last of Us TV show, on top of his co-writing credit.

The potential new detail comes from a production list posted to the Director's Guild of Canada website, which cites Druckmann as one of five directors for the live-action adaptation. Naughty Dog senior QA employee Gabby Llanillo shared the news on her personal Twitter account, which adds an extra dash of credibility to the idea that Druckmann's duties on the show will extend beyond writing it alongside Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin.

This would be Druckmann's first turn as director of a live-action series, though Naughty Dog's games are so cinematic it would hardly be a standing start.

Speaking of Mazin, he's also listed as one of the directors of the series on the DCG document, along with Jasmila Zbanic, Kantemir Balagov, and Peter Hoar. The show does not currently have an official premiere date, but Balagov has hinted at 2022 as a potential release window on his Instagram. Its first season is set to run for 10 episodes, telling an "enhanced" version of the first game's story - and potentially its sequel as well, depending on how the timing and future seasons work out.

We've reached out to the Director's Guild of Canada to confirm the listing is legitimate, and we'll update this story if and when we hear back.

These The Last of Us series set photos look eerily close to the environments from the first game. 

Connor Sheridan
Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar.