Neil Druckmann Focused on Naughty Dog Games, Steps Away from The Last of Us TV Show

Say what about you him, but he gets WAY too much hate thrown at him. But I think it's the right call that he focuses on games, ND need him there right now. This is want from GRRM and Winds of Winter too, but he keeps getting involved in every TV show adaptation!!!

he saw the reaction to season 2 and cut his losses ...

We’ll lets be honest, where is it going to go after season 2? Not like they had any game story to go off is it… TLOU is done for now both game wise and programme wise.

Uncharted is what really got me in on the PS3 and 4, TLOU ONE got me in on PS3, hated TLOU 2 but that’s another story, anyway this gen? Nothing.
Where is my next Uncharted Druckman!!!

honestly think he lost creative control and this is him leaving due to "creative differences"

There's no way he could've agreed to the massive changes to the part 2 plot that fundamentally change the essence of the story.

Not to mention that Ellie is written more ace Ventura than actually the Ellie portrayed by Johnson in part 2.

@S1ayeR74

They haven't done Abbies story, that's what season 3 is. Thought that was obvious?

And if they wanna stretch it out they can do a 4th season about what goes down In California since we never saw Abbies side of it either

Good to hear. I'm really excited for Intergalactic so if this helps that game come out even a little faster then it's was the right call.

Now if he would step away from gaming then Naughty Dog might have a chance to make good games again.

What exactly was his role in the show? The story was already written. Was he just there for morale? 😂

Either way, I don’t think it’s been the success they hoped it would be (and should have been if they had better casting). Worst mistake ever casting Bella and Pedro. Bella can’t act and Pedro needs to take a break for several years at least. Tired of seeing him in everything.

Is there still time to change that dreadful title of ND’s next game? Doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.

@MrMeeeseeeks Dude, it's like HBO's biggest hit since Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon. What are you on about?

The amount of hate that Druckmann gets is, frankly, absurd. I've never seen so many unhinged comments on this website than when he's referenced in an article.

@Anthony_Daniels
I dunno man, if you check out interviews with him it seems like that's exactly the way he wanted it to go. If anything, he probably had a bit TOO much input on the show.

@Oram77 it doesn't get enough hate

@Anthony_Daniels I don't know anyone who liked the show apart from people on the internet

Would be fairly funny if season 3 of the show just completely changed things like the way Game of Thrones went. Joel alive and a country music star, with a talking dog.

@Deljo smartest ND hater. He directed one episode of S2 and it was THE best of the season- he only co-wrote that and one other episode as well. Most of the responsibility for the poor choices lay on Craig Mazin's shoulders , not Neil's necessarily

@get2sammyb They don’t have anything this generation, though. All they have are remasters of existing games, unless my memory is failing me?

@Liamsufc1 being ok with throwing hate at people, makes me know what kind of person you are...

He’s ruined naughty dog, when’s he going to leave

@KillerBoy
How was naughty dog ruined exactly? Seems they've released nothing but critically acclaimed hits since uncharted 2

@Anthony_Daniels another halfwit throwing around hate with zero knowledge, bandwagon>>>jump etc

@Anthony_Daniels
This is kinda what I'm thinking too. I understand Neil has got a lot on with the projects at Naughty Dog but Last of Us is his baby. He created the world and characters and he knows them through and through.
HBO and (maybe) Mazin wanted to try and soften the backlash the game of Part II got and inject more action and I feel lessen all of the gravitas Part II had. Some people may say it's awful, or even just plain miserable but that's what I loved about Part II. Complete disclosure it's one of my all time favourites games. Season 2 got some stuff right, I feel Ramsey and Merced had great chemistry but a bad script, Abby's casting was on point but I have no idea why she had a whole villain's speech except just to pander to a mainstream audience. That's where I feel things went very wrong with Season 2.
I don't think HBO had faith in the audience being able to handle a morally conflicting story and instead put the baby gloves on. They softened the hard edges and explained way too much of what should have been left ambiguous, they sped up the pacing so the audience wouldn't get "bored".
I'm not saying there's nothing good in the show, all the people involved in the day to day production are brilliant, sets, costumes ect are of the highest quality even if the CGI was a little iffy.

Druckman departing after directing the one episode of Season Two that got things right is really sad.
I'm excited for what Naughty Dog are doing, I'm just disappointed that one of the better video game adaptations jumped off a bridge so quick.

Good for him, Season 2 was garbage thanks to Mazin and his “creative genius”, Gross and Druckmann were seemingly the driving force between the few redeeming qualities of that season.

This also confirms that I don’t have to watch S3 now as I’m now more than confident there will be nothing of value aside from Kaitlyn’s performance.

Maybe George RR Martin could learn a thing or two from Neil. 🤣 In all seriousness, Neil is a fantastic writer and director, who for a mixture of baffling reasons gets hate thrown his way.

I'm happy he's going back to just focusing on the games after working on the show for 2 seasons. I wasn't much a fan of Season 2(Loved Isabella Merced, and Jessie) but I'm sure season 3 will be fine.

The man gets way too much hate for no reason nowadays. Intergalactic will be badass and whatever the second game he's working on will be great too. Just let Naughty Dog cook.

@redheadfilmfanatic
One of the most rational takes I’ve seen in this comments section. The hate b0ner the vocal minority has toward Druckman gets so tiring. We get it, he killed your favorite character and TLOU Part 2 had nothing poignant or nuanced to say; it’s been 5 years… move on.

@Anthony_Daniels when’s the last time they released a game

Excellent games from an excellent director. Can't wait for Intergalactic and whatever else Naughty Dog have in store.

Season 3 could be really great if Mazin doesn't have to babysit Neil / pretend the story for Part II is good

I have nothing to say about Neil but I can imagine this might be the end for season 3. I didn't like it in the game and I never thought it would work for a TV show that only has 6-8 episodes once every year or 2.

Despite what people say on here about the actors the show was about Joel and Ellie. Season 3 may as well be titled like a spin-off show - TLOU:Abbey's Story. Like 1 of the many Walking Dead shows. And I think that's going to be a problem for TV ratings.

Will HBO, who mess up a lot, spend 2 years and the necessary megabucks for a spinoff?

Maybe ask the people who made Batgirl? 🤷‍♂️

https://collider.com/warner-bros-david-zaslav-cancellations-comments/

@Liamsufc1 Not liking someone and throwing hate at them are two completely different things.

@KillerBoy they released part two 5 years ago cupcake.
Intergalactic been it development for 5 years and is coming next.

Please look forward to it

Good decision. Time to put pedal to the metal for Intergalactic and that unannounced second project.

And after season 3 complete, i hope he didn't work on TloU Part 3 and stick with Intergalactic. Just put TloU to bed, the same way as Uncharted was finished after UC 4 & Lost Legacy.

I get that TloU made tons of money just like Uncharted. But i want to see ND do something new that isn't limited to realistic / grounded setting. Intergalactic sci-fi setting is the right direction which i hope the unannounced project also has fantasy / sci-fi setting.

They’ve pretty much blown it on the TV adaptation of Last of Us Part II, in my opinion, so yeah get back to the games Druckman. High expectations for Heretic Prophet—it looks amazing!

@Oram77 when you go out of your way to provoke the sort people who already disagree with you then that equates to inviting hate. The geezer grinds my gears too so I'm definitely no fan of his but I do draw the line at some of the unhinged stuff that gets launched in his direction.

The money men are Naughty Dog clearly believe in his creative direction but many gamers do not. At the end of the day who's right and who's wrong will come down to the numbers that this heretic thing does when it comes out.

I personally won't be buying it, nor would I be interested in another instalment of TLOU but I would be all in if Naughty Dog were to resurrect something from the Uncharted universe.

@Anthony_Daniels "Ellie like Ace Ventura?" Wtf... are you trying to get me to watch season 2? XD

@get2sammyb Apart from the previous heads of Naughty Dog having retired/left prior to Druckman's elevation,still can't help but wonder what Naughty Dog's output would look like if the likes of Amy Hennig &/or Bruce Strayley (who is very much the forgotten half of Uncharted 2 & the original TLOU),were still there?

Much like Jim Ryan's captains call promoting Hermen Hulst to Worldwide Studios head, they started looking into a multi forked "Multimedia" verse of TV,TV,TV,& movie spin offs of IP's, but rather than tap into expertise of Sony Pictures management they could've drafted, it's been arguably a distraction of Druckman,Hulst etc., who should've been focused on the in-house projects?

Or at the very least, if ND still had the likes of Hennig, Strayley etc.,instead of burnouts & possibly backroom corporate politics Naughty Dog could've spared Druckman's pursuits elsewhere with other equally qualified senior heads still there.

@Robocod Amy Hennig hasn’t released a game in much longer than Neil and has abandoned multiple projects and had multiple cancellations. Not sure it would be better off. The secret sauce was a mix of all those talents together at ND.

Well he ruined the show and it's probably going to get cancelled now.

I've said it before and I'm going to say it again:

There's no justification for The Last Of Us to be turned into a TV series.

Jak and Daxter are in desperate need of a remake. This time, make the tank levels in Jak II a bit easier please.

I've yet to see Season 2 as am waiting for the 4K box set but judging by the general consensus best he concentrates on games.

@wildcat_kickz it's always the case with hate. People can't resist jumping on a hate train. Be it Katy Perry, Anne Hathaway, Neil Druckmann, etc. Simply put, people will hate whatever everyone else is hating.

@KnightRider1982 it's a good thing HBO don't listen to internet experts.

Dear Neil, please show those truly rad projects. It's time.

Almost 5yrs into this generation and Naughty Dog didnt published anything

@Liamsufc1 and I don't know anyone who likes Metallica other than people online. What does that say about Metallica exactly?

It makes me feel ill seeing the level of hate Neil gets online. And it's so stupid, too. It's as if Joel Miller was everyone's real dad and Neil killed him in front of them. Y'all never witness a provocative story before?

Not game related but rip Diego jota

@Lavishturtle Boy what an orginally formed opinion that is totally valid

/s

@naruball I saw them when they toured the Black album a year after Megadeth toured Rust In Peace in 90/91. They really were rather disappointing. They also had no support band whereas Megadeth's set was fantastic and they had Alice In Chains and The Almighty as hors d'oeuvres.
Completely unrelated to your argument however.

He decided.
Completely off his own accord.
And nothing to do with the MASSIVE drop off in ratings once a completely new audience also decided that they hated Joel being killed off.
And if you'll believe that, i have a bridge to sell you.

@Ludacritz Toxic gamers really lost thier ***** when their virtual daddy was killed. That, or they envisioned themselves as Joel. Either way, it stems from an unhealthy dependance on games.

@Ajfennell77 holy *****. That’s so sad. RIP

@BiosNova Does that also apply to the people who stopped watching the show once the exact same thing happened?

It is this kind of willful ignorance and stubborn pride as to why Druckmann refused to change the story for the show. And do not try and tell me that he couldn't, The Walking Dead TV series is basically nothing like the comic.

Looks like Season 2 didn’t go as planned. Wonder if season 3 will actually happen now.

@naruball It really breaks my heart that so many people think that the best way to contribute to the world is to tear other people down. The negativity in this comment thread is just so predictable and pathetic. Really, really sad.

That said, I've noticed a lot of people here making a conscious effort to push back on the constant needless negativity (not to be confused with legitimate criticism), which is really heartening to see.

Glad he's getting back to things at ND, looking forward to seeing more from Intergalactic and whatever the second project he's working on is.

I really enjoyed The Last of Us tv show and Neil's episodes were some of the best of each season. I get that people were disappointed with the show in some aspects, but it was never going to be as good as the games, it couldn't!

Just read about Gross. Don't know anything about them but losing a co-writer doesn't seem like a net positive for starting a new season on the show.🤷‍♂️

@Liamsufc1 "People on the internet" are... you know... actual people... just people outside of the bubble of your friend group. The world is pretty big.

@KeldorTheCursed are they? Internet is 99% bots

@naruball not today lad. Rip jota

@LifeGirl The story does not need changing, hence it was not changed.

@themightyant lad rip jota leave it at that I don't care lad

@Anthony_Daniels What story? She never had one in the game, she had sex on a boat, she looked like a body builder, she had huge anger with her father being killed, she ran a cult of people surviving in the plague. That was about it.

@S1ayeR74

Hmm maybe play the game, pay attention and you'll find her story.
Getting your info from angry middle aged men on YouTube is pretty unreliable tbh.

Free life tip for you , please be excited for intergalactic

Man, really wish he’d step away from NaughtyDog as well. 💯

@Anthony_Daniels If you read my comment you replied to would help. As I stated my post, I hated TLOU2 implying I HAVE played it. So I have all the info I need on it thanks.

Also so far I don’t really think much of Intergalactic, sounds like the same BS as TLOU2 was to be honest. Build a character up you’ll like then kill them off for the shock factor. I most definitely am not paying £70 for it if I ever play it.

@LifeGirl TLOU S2 tanked because it went too far from the game and completely changed Ellie's character. Fun fact sales for the game massively increased because of the show so your VG Daddy being killed clearly didn't matter that much.

I couldn't give this show a shot because of the casting

If only he'd leave gaming industry too...

@KeldorTheCursed
Lots of flies tend to love huge piles of turd. Doesn't mean it's good though.

@Ludacritz
Provocation for the sake of provocation is immensely cheap and bad taste.

Judging by the comments on this, you all are extremely fragile. Go find happiness. I hope you're not walking around this angry in everyday life. It's unhealthy.

Really looking forward to that game, but how on earth did Naughty Dog choose to go for such a generic title. It sounds like the best thing ChatGTP would come up with.