The Last of Us director says the HBO series "won't run into the same issue as Game of Thrones"

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The Last of Us HBO won't tell stories outside of the games

The Last of Us on HBO Max
(Image credit: HBO)

The Last of Us director Neil Druckmann says the upcoming HBO series' story won't go beyond the popular video games.

Talking to the Hollywood Reporter, Druckmann expressed confidence that The Last of Us HBO show won't make the same mistakes as Game of Thrones, whose last few seasons diverged from George R.R. Martin's unfinished source material to a high degree of controversy. While still overall a very popular TV show, it's generally agreed that the quality of the high fantasy series' storytelling began a progressive decline starting in season 5, when the biggest changes were made adapting the books for TV.

Druckmann, for his part, doesn't think The Last of Us series is at risk of falling into that same trap because "we have no plans to tell any stories beyond adapting the games."

"We won't run into the same issue as Game of Thrones since Part II doesn't end on a cliffhanger."

All that said, we recently learned that the series will tone down the violence from the games, keeping only what Druckmann and series co-creator Craig Mazin deem "very essential."

Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.