In a recent interview with Discussing Film, it was revealed that Emmy award-winning director, Johan Renck, would be helming the pilot for HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us. The showrunners for the series include Craig Mazin who recently collaborated with Renck on the acclaimed HBO series Chernobyl.
During the interview, Renck described The Last of Us as an “ongoing TV series,” and because of that, he would be unable to direct every episode of the show as he did for Chernobyl. He is slated to at least direct the pilot episode and will work as an executive producer along with Mazin.
Renck also spoke about the process he and Mazin have gone through while developing the series. In particular, how has it been adapting such beloved characters like Joel and Ellie who have already been implanted in fans’ minds?
“We’re having weekly calls, Craig and I and also Neil [Druckmann] who created the game, about various approaches and how to deal with that,” Renck said. “How to deal with the fact that a video game character is way further than a character from a book.”
Knowing that Renck and Mazin are in constant communication with Neil Druckmann brings more assurance that they are creating a faithful adaptation of the source material. There is definitely a love for the game here with Mazin even saying on his podcast, Scriptnotes, that The Last of Us is his favorite video game.
Further development and production for the series is set to commence once The Last of Us Part II releases on June 19.
Source: Discussing Film
