‘The Last of Us’ creator sues HBO for not giving him credit on the series

Some of you may know that after Amy Hennig left Naughty Dog, a new directing team has been put in charge of the company’s productions. They were Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley, who together created “The Last of Us”. Now, the last of them has denounced his participation in the HBO series and claims that he was not recognized for his work on the program.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Bruce Straley, co-creator of ‘The Last of Us’, claimed not to be in the credits of the HBO series. Along with Neil Druckman, Straley was responsible for the original title, where he is acknowledged as the author of the story, however, his name does not appear anywhere in the adaptation starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey.

“It’s a pro-syndication argument, that someone who was part of co-creating that world and those characters doesn’t get a credit or a cent for the work they put into it,” said Bruce Straley. The creator of ‘The Last of Us’ he didn’t blame HBO or Neil Druckman for not casting him in the seriesbut argues that this is a further step towards the unionization of workers in the video game industry.

“Maybe we need unions in the video game industry to be able to protect creators.” currently, Neither HBO nor Sony have responded to Bruce Straley’s allegationsbut as the medium points out, the relationship between the two parties “has become tense” since the creative left the video game studio after the release of “Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End” in 2017.

Sure, Craig Mazin and Neil Druckman appear in the credits of the HBO series, however, “The Last of Us” is based on the ideas of Bruce Straley, and the fact that he isn’t paid in any way on the series takes away the credit from him. to be one of the creators of this world which has had so much success in the world of videogames, and which also aspires equally within television.

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The success of “The Last of Us” on HBO

With two chapters already available, the series starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey has been a hit on the HBO platform, breaking records and equaling some of the audience numbers imposed by “Game of Thrones” and “The House of the Dragon”. With this, the rest of the first season aims to achieve great results and close one of the best series so far in 2023.

Everything seems to indicate that the success of “The Last of Us” will give you the confirmation of a second season without too much trouble, which will be based on the second video game, as Druckmann and Mazin have advanced. And while they don’t want the series extended, the story could expand this universe with other standalone Joel and Ellie stories.

It is worth mentioning that in “The Last of Us: Part II” Bruce Straley did not participate in the development, and the director of the sequel was completely Neil Druckmann and his team. And if the first season is already proving successful, things could reach a new level if they adjust the future of Ellie’s life.