The Last Of Us Spinoffs In The Works?
HBO’s The Last of Us was a massive hit, so there is naturally some talk of spin-offs in the works. Series showrunner and co-creator Craig Mazin spoke to The Wrap (via Screen Rant) about the potential of spin-offs, and he said, “I’m not against the idea of other shows that may draw from these characters or that world,” with the caveat “We haven’t talked about that specifically because we’re so focused on just telling this main narrative.” That’s far from a definitive statement from Mazin, but it seems like the door is certainly open.
The Last of Us series co-creator Craig Mazin says he hasn’t ruled out the notion of spinoff shows.
Mazin went on to say that Neil Druckmann, co-creator of the series and creator of The Last of Us game, would also potentially be interested in the idea of spin-offs. However, it doesn’t seem like that is going to be the priority for the moment. It does lead one to wonder what a potential spinoff series could be about, though.
The Last of Us takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where the cordyceps fungi have evolved to the point where they take on human host bodies. While this happens worldwide, the series mainly focuses on protagonists Joel and Ellie, who travel across the bleak landspace in hopes of a cure.
While the tale of Joel and Ellie is a fascinating one, there is a whole wide world of potential, similar to the zombie series The Walking Dead, which has branched off to numerous spin-offs since the flagship series debuted.
“I’m not against the idea of other shows that may draw from these characters or that world…We haven’t talked about that specifically because we’re so focused on just telling this main narrative.”
-Craig Mazin
The Last of Us will likely be finishing the story from the video games before any spin-offs enter the production pipeline, as the second season will be following the narrative of The Last of Us: Part II. The second season will not only continue Joel and Ellie’s story but will also introduce the character Abby, who was another main protagonist of the second game.
Presumably, the second season will finish the narrative of the games, but it’s always possible that they could split the second game up into two seasons.
How Much The Last Of Us Will We Get?
Whether or not we get more than two seasons of The Last of Us, it does seem pretty unlikely that HBO would be willing to let such a popular franchise go after just a couple of seasons. The series received a whopping 24 Emmy nominations and became one of the most-watched HBO series of all time.
With popularity and critical acclaim like that, it’s likely that we’ll be seeing more from this universe outside of the game’s main narrative sometime in the future.
This actually might be good news for fans of the games, as there aren’t any signs that Naughty Dog is going to develop The Last of Us Part 3 anytime soon, which means that spin-off TV shows might be the only way we’ll be getting new content from the show in the future.
While the series has veered from the main of the games a bit, notably with detours like the fantastic Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett episode that explored Bill and Frank’s relationship, game fans pretty much know which direction the show is going. While it’s fun to see a big-budget on-screen version of the game brought to life, there is undoubtedly more story to tell in the universe.
