The Last of Us Season 2 Will Avoid One Thing 'For the Sake of Mental Health'

While working on a new installment of the highly rated The Last of Us TV, showrunner Craig Mazin intends to avoid the mistake he made when working on the first batch of episodes.

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Mateusz Libera05 July 2023

Source: The Last of Us, Craig Mazin, Neil Druckmann, HBO, 2023

The creators of the popular HBO show are working on a new batch of episodes, this time adapting the post-apocalyptic story from The Last of Us: Part II. Although showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have made it clear that the second season will "incorporate key elements from the source material", they will, however, try to avoid a situation that cost them sleeples night when working on the first season.

During an interview in a recent episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, hosted by Josh Horowitz, Craig Mazin admitted that while shooting the first season, he was simultaneously working on its script. This took a toll on the filmmaker's mental health.

"During the filming of the first season I was still writing, and shooting took practically a whole year. This time I will try to avoid it, because it was not good for my mental health. Well, I'm one of those weirdos who just like to write a lot."

Taking care of a good support has become a priority for the showrunners. Craig Mazin intends to "do as much work early as possible," and only then get into filming the next season.

"Ideally, I would like to do as much work up front as possible, but one of the things that characterizes my way of writing is that I don't give people a script that requires a lot of work. I don't give them one that is not fully worked out. Yes, I give them something that can already be shot, but at the same time we improve the text together. I work really hard to make it what I want it to be," he said.

Mazin said that work on the second season of The Last of Us has already begun, and together with Neil Druckmann, they are perfecting the script. The developers do not want to repeat the mistake of the past.

"I'm working on writing the episodes [...], but we have to deal with a lot of practical things at the same time. We have already started the process of finding locations, we are beginning to build [the sets of - ed. note] specific locations [...], the matter of casting... This process has already begun."

A fresh approach, preceded by the conclusions and experiences of filmmakers, may prove beneficial to Craig Mazin and the entire production of The Last of Us. The second batch of episodes, in turn, is expected to be even more challenging. Its premiere does not yet have an official date, but rumor has it that it will not be earlier than early 2025.

More:What About the Future of The Last of Us? 'Season 3 Uncertain'

Mateusz Libera

He began his writing adventure by creating stories, later he followed the humanities path, choosing studies in journalism and social communication. He published his first texts on his personal blog and for contests. At the beginning of 2023, he joined the film department of GRYOnline.pl, where he started working as an author of articles about movies. He is interested in fantasy, history, RPG games, and strategies. He is also a long-time player of League of Legends - he has been playing since the second season. Additionally, he writes adventure and fantasy books, but in this field he is still a novice. Currently, he has published one collection of stories.

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