Neil Druckmann Gives Up on The Last of Us HBO Series for Game Development
|
|
- Neil Druckmann steps away from The Last of Us HBO series to focus on game development studio Naughty Dog and its future projects.
- As goals for the near future, Druckmann outlines writing and directing Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.
- Druckmann started his career in gamedev as an intern at Naughty Dog in 2004, working as a programmer on Jak 3 and Jak X: Combat Racing.
Neil Druckmann steps away from The Last of Us HBO series to focus on game development studio Naughty Dog and its future projects, according to the official announcement on Naughty Dog’s X (formerly Twitter) account.
As goals for the near future, Druckmann outlines performing duties as Studio Head and Head of Creative at Naughty Dog, in particular writing and directing Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, the game which will be published by Sony Interactive Entertainment exclusively for PlayStation 5. The title is set around 2,000 years in the future, in an alternate universe where advanced space travel existed by 1986. Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet will follow veteran bounty hunter Jordan A. Mun, who is stranded on a remote planet, Sempiria, while tracking the Five Aces criminal syndicate.
Notably, Druckmann’s work on The Last of Us series for HBO wasn’t hitch-free, as he recounted during his talks with Cory Barlog, hinting at production tensions between him and Pedro Pascal: ‘One time I gave some direction to Pedro Pascal. Dropping names. I think he was frustrated by my direction. He started joking. He said, “Do you like art?” I got a little defensive. “Yeah, do you like art?” And he said, without missing a beat, “It’s the reason I wake up in the morning. It’s why I live and breathe.”’
Druckmann started his career in game development as an intern at Naughty Dog in 2004, working as a programmer on Jak 3 and Jak X: Combat Racing. During his time with the studio, Druckmann has played a hand in such games as 2007’s Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, 2009’s Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, 2013’s The Last of Us, 2016’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, and 2020’s The Last of Us Part II. He became Naughty Dog’s co-president in 2020, head of creative in 2023, and studio head in 2024.
Through his career in game development, Druckmann has received several awards, including three British Academy Games Awards, four D.I.C.E. Awards, two Game Awards, three Game Developers Choice Awards, and four Writers Guild of America Awards.
