The Last of Us has proven to be a huge success, racking in more than 8 million viewers for the series finale early this summer.
The refreshing post-apocalyptic thriller shows Pedro Pascal’s Joel Miller taking the mantle of keeping a 14-year-old girl, Bella Ramsey’s Ellie Williams, safe, as the girl may be humanity’s only hope.
For fans of video games, the main plot of that show is far from refreshing because it’s adapted from the famous action-adventure game of the same title. However, its deeply moving script has still attracted rave reviews from all sections. In fact, the connection to the game has opened doors for Easter eggs, much like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, for the traditional fans of the video game to unearth. Interestingly, the game has an interesting connection with the network’s other show.
How The Last of Us Game Shocked Creator of Pedro Pascal’s Show
The HBO’s story about a hardened survivor (Pedro Pascal) is being overseen by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann for the network.
While Mazin has been a writer on movies like The Hangover Part 2 and Identity Thief among others, Druckmann is co-president of Naughty Dog, the team behind the 2013 hit game. They also published the second installment of The Last of Us in 2020.
As mentioned above, this collaboration on HBO allows fans to come across Easter eggs that test their knowledge of Naughty Dog’s previous productions. However, the showrunner, Mazin, who also created Chernobyl, was left stunned by a reference, not from Season 1 of his show but instead from The Last of Us Part II.
In the second installment of the game, there’s a character named, Boris Legasov, who encounters Ellie after becoming infected. The character is interestingly a combination of the names Boris Shcherbina and Valerie Legasov, two characters in Mazin-led Chernobyl.
“When I saw that, I was like, ‘What the f—?!'” Mazin recalled [via EW’s The Awardist podcast]. “I took a photo of my TV and sent it to Neil, and he goes, ‘Yeah, I actually did not know that that’s what that was. Somebody just got it in there. So, love that the games were manifesting you to come aboard this show.'”
Three years after that interesting connection, both Druckmann and Mazin have collaborated to great effect.
Having said that, the latter’s best work to date remains Chernobyl, for which he won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie, or a Dramatic Special.
Thankfully, there’d be plenty of opportunity for the pair to add awards to their collection as The Last of Us isn’t stopping anytime soon, with HBO ordering a second season for the drama just two episodes into the first chapter.
Creator of Pedro Pascal’s The Last of Us Has Plans for Another Big Project
The Last of Us 2 is not expected to drop before the end of 2024 or early 2025, leaving a significant window for Mazin to work his magic elsewhere as well. And it seems the Chernobyl creator is in no mood to sit idle.
In fact, he has been in talks with Disney over the reboot of the Pirates of the Caribbean. “We pitched it and thought there’s no way they’re buying it, it’s too weird. And they did!” Mazin told the LA Times.
There’s very little in the know about the reboot’s plot or cast. Having said that, there’s no doubt many The Last of Us fans would love to see Mazin link up with Pascal for another project. With his appearances in Narcos and Game of Thrones, the Chilean-American actor has already shown he’s more than capable of playing characters who know their way around new places and people – a trait that every able Pirate should possess.
Source: Entertainment Weekly and LA Times
