‘The Last Of Us’: Showrunner Craig Mazin Expects “Furor” From Fans Over Upcoming Season 2: “There Are Things That Will Shock People”

HBO‘s “The Last Of Us” ratcheted up 24 Emmy nominations yesterday, coming second in total noms only to its HBO brethren “Succession.” Not a bad haul for a show’s first season. But despite all of that recognition, EW reports that showrunner Craig Mazin expects that Season 2 of his hit series will continue to “shock people” and polarize audiences. “Will there be furor? Yeah, probably,” he told EW, and that’ll be due to the creative choices he and others make to deviate from Naughty Dog‘s “The Last Of Us” videogame series.

READ MORE: Emmy Nominations 2023: Snubs And Surprises

“I’m never gonna say there are things that are gonna happen in the show that happened in the game. You never know what we’re gonna do,” Mazin told EW after the Emmy nominations were announced yesterday. “But I will say that it is the adventure, the journey is the point. There are things that will shock people, things that were in the game, things that were not in the game, and that’s okay. As long as they’re purposeful, they’re not there to just simply shock. We are not interested in creating social media fear. We just want to tell the story the way we think it should be told.”

And Mazin also anticipates backlash over future casting choices, too, not unlike how some reacted to Bella Ramsay being cast as Ellie. “Will there be furor? Yeah, probably,” Mazin continued, “I mean, there usually is, starting even with casting. We knew they were the exact right person to cast , and they had to go through quite a few months of people being awful on social media until they saw what we saw. That, to me, is the point. We don’t operate to either make people happy on social media or avoid making them upset. We just do what we think is right, and we hope that people come along for the ride and enjoy it.”  

It’s worth noting that Ramsay, who uses they/them pronouns, got nominated for Best Actress In A Drama Series. And many of her “The Last Of Us” co-stars also received nods yesterday, including Pedro Pascal, Anna Torv, Melanie Lynskey, Murray Bartlett, Nick Offerman, Lamar Johnson, Keivonn Montreal Woodard, and Storm Reid. So obviously, Mazin is doing something right with his casting choices. And Mazin looks to keep doing what’s he been doing for Season 2. His plan for the upcoming season is “to not necessarily achieve the same outcome, but follow the same process” that made Season 1 of the series so beloved. Well, 24 Emmy nominations means Mr. Mazin should trust her process.

And Mazin plans to stick with it. “It is ultimately the only process I really know and understand as somebody that writes things and directs and produces,” he continued. “So I don’t really have much of a choice, but it is nice to know that at least this first go around, doing it the way I do it worked. I have great partners. We are all very humble with each other. Objections are always carefully considered. Nobody in our group operates out of ego or being defensive. We just try to make things better all the time, and we take care of each other. I think as long as we keep doing that, and we have more incredible source material to work with, we’re gonna continue to adapt the way we do, which is to surprise people that have played the game. But also, I don’t think anybody who has played the game is gonna watch a second season and go, ‘Wait, what is this?'”

But when will Season 2 of “The Last Of Us” premiere? With the ongoing WGA writers’ strike (and a seemingly imminent SAG-AFTRA strike), HBO subscribers could wait a while for the show’s next season. Mazin commiserated with fans on that “I can’t wait to get back to work,” he said, “but unfortunately, I have to wait.” But whenever he begins to cast Season 2, all of those Emmy nominations will let him pick whomever he wants for his ensemble. “Well, I think the smartest thing to do is to appreciate outcomes and then forget them, because the only way you’re gonna get to that outcome is by starting from another pure and clean place,” Mazin continued. “So it is incredible to see. Of course, this might make it slightly easier to cast people, but we will always do things without that in mind. We just cast the person that we think is right.”

So how many awards will “The Last Of Us” win at the Emmys this year? The ceremony isn’t until September 18, but expect stiff competition for Mazin’s series from “Succession,” Season 2 of “The White Lotus,” and others. But with 24 nominations, the show is bound to win at least a few Emmys that night.