The Last of Us showrunner Craig Mazin has said this show will be his “video game swansong”, but that hasn’t stopped him joking about 19 seasons of something GTA 5-flavoured.
Mazin has so far been at the helm of two seasons of The Last of Us, alongside Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann. A third season is already confirmed to be in the pipeline, although at least one more season after that is still expected to wrap up the games’ narratives.
But, once all that is done and dusted, Mazin won’t be looking to head up another video game to TV adaptation, he has said.
Speaking with SciFiNow, the showrunner was asked which other video game series he would like to adapt, to which he replied: “Well, I’m not ever going to, of course, because where can you go from here?”
That said, he joked that as he is a “masochist”, he was tempted to reply with Grand Theft Auto 5, because “I just think that would be like 19 seasons of TV”, or even something like Candy Crush, which is quite the thought.
However, these game adaptations are all just a jokey reply, and The Last of Us will be Mazin’s “video game swansong”, he said. He would still happily lend a hand to those looking to adapt a video game for TV, though.
“Mostly, I’m excited to watch what other people do, even if I help. I have no problem being a helper. I would love to help produce some good adaptations of video games, just a couple in mind that I actually have,” Mazin said.
“But in terms of writing and dedicating myself on a day-by-day basis… this one’s my video game swansong.”
The Last of Us’ second season concluded last week, after seven episodes. The finale welcomed 3.7 million cross-platform viewers in the US, which was significantly lower than the season’s opening episode, which premiered with 5.3 million same-day US cross-platform viewers.
As for its next outing, last month The Last of Us’ cast and crew shared some insight into where the show will go during its third season.
For more on the show, you can check out my discussion feature: The Last of Us season two wraps with episode seven, but was it a satisfying finale?