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Geek Tyrant
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Neill Druckmann Won't Make THE LAST OF US PART III Without the Right Idea — GeekTyrant
The Last of Us franchise has kind of become a cultural landmark. The franchise, launched first as a game in 2013 by Naughty Dog, has become known for emotionally devastating storytelling, nuanced characters, and brutal world-building. But with The Last of Us Part II having tied up many of its loose ends, fans have one burning question… will there ever be a The Last of Us Part III ? Neil Druckmann, co-creator and director of the franchise, recently addressed the possibility of a third video game on the Sacred Symbols podcast. While he didn't confirm a third game is in the works, he didn't shut the door either. He said: 'So, if we were ever to come back to it, I want to make sure it's a story worthy of The Last of Us. I love that world, I love these characters. With the right opportunity, with the right idea — yeah, I would totally jump at it." Of course it has to be a worthy story. It's easy to understand why he's cautious. Between the games and the show, the story has already hit some powerfully resonant notes. In the first game (and Season 1 of the series), we followed Joel and Ellie across a ravaged America, culminating in Joel's infamous decision to rescue Ellie from the Fireflies by force, killing the only surgeon who might've saved the world. The Last of Us Part II (now adapted across Seasons 2 and 3 of the show) picks up five years later, only to tear everything apart. Joel's violent past catches up with him, Ellie sets off on a revenge journey that spirals into tragedy, and by the end, we get something that felt like the end. Which makes Druckmann's restraint refreshing. The creative temptation to revisit beloved characters is strong, especially when there's a devoted audience already in place. But Druckmann's hesitation suggests he's not interested in retreading emotional beats or squeezing more out of a story that already said what it needed to. They could always tell a whole new story set in that world with different characters in a different location. That could be interesting. What would you like to see from the franchise in the future?
Geek Tyrant
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Why THE LAST OF US Packed All the Joel Flashbacks Into Episode 6: 'It Was Nice That the Viewers Could Really Miss This Character' — GeekTyrant
The Last of Us Season 2 hasn't followed the video game beat-for-beat, and one major shift fans noticed was how the show handled Joel's flashbacks. Instead of spacing them throughout the season like the game did, the series drops them all into a single, emotionally loaded Episode 6. In the original Last of Us Part II video game, flashbacks to Joel and Ellie's relationship are sprinkled across the story, giving players a slow drip of emotional context while they navigate Ellie's journey. But in the show, we get all six flashbacks ranging from Joel's childhood in 1983 to several key moments with Ellie at different ages in one concentrated episode. According to showrunner Neil Druckmann, who also directed the episode, this was the best move for the adaptation. He said: 'In the game, when you are experiencing one of those flashbacks that are spread out throughout much more, they're not all consolidated like this – for example, the museum one, whereas in the show it's a few minutes long, in the game, it could be close to an hour if you're exploring every different nook and cranny. 'You are Ellie, and you're there with Joel, and they have lots of conversations that you could get into that headspace. You get in the flow state, and you're experiencing this thing with the two of them.' But TV is a different medium, and Druckmann pointed out how spacing out those moments might've actually diluted their emotional punch. He explained: 'I think if we were to take, let's say, the scenes that we wrote for this episode, and spread them out over the season, a few things would happen that I think would have a negative effect. 'There's one, I don't know if they would land, because they're relatively short. And two, you might not be missing Joel enough if we started spreading them throughout the episodes. 'We felt like for the show, we would get a lot more impact if we brought them all together and you could see them side by side and feel the deterioration of that relationship.' That absence is something viewers have been feeling since Joel's brutal death at the hands of Abby back in Episode 2. The three episodes since have shifted fully to Ellie and Dina's hunt for revenge across Seattle, leaving Joel's presence hanging like a ghost. Druckmann was also mindful of the show's structure, and how easily it could fall into a repetitive rhythm. 'I also had concerns that the episodes would turn into a bit of a template. It'd be like, 'Okay, what's the Joel flashback this week?' So, it was nice that the characters and the viewers could really miss this character, and then we get in the whole bunch for one last time.' It's a storytelling gamble that seems to have paid off. Episode 6 hits like a gut punch because Joel isn't just revisited, he's remembered, mourned, and recontextualized. And just like Ellie, we're left missing him all over again.
Wall Street Journal
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
The Creators of ‘The Last of Us' Welcome the Backlash
This article contains spoilers for 'The Last of Us' season 2, episode 6. Not long after killing off a popular main character, HBO's 'The Last of Us' resurrected him. Sunday's episode of the post-apocalyptic thriller was a quiet excavation of the emotional history between Pedro Pascal's Joel and his proxy daughter, Ellie, played by Bella Ramsey.
