There are a lot of ironies going on right now with The Last Of Us franchise. For example, the game has a “Halloween Nights” event coming up in which Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson will reprise their roles as Joel and Ellie for the “experience. Then, there are the rumors that a third entry in the franchise is in the works at Naughty Dog, though that hasn’t been confirmed as of yet. Finally, there’s everything going on with the live-action adaptation. The HBO series debuted at the beginning of the year and instantly made a splash with fans and critics.
It was so good that not only did it set ratings records, but it got nominated for 24 Emmys. Many would easily say it’s the best video game adaptation ever created, making the wait for Season 2 all the harder. But that’s the last irony to talk about because Season 2 isn’t going to be released for a long time, thanks in part to the Writer’s and Actor’s Guild Strikes. The former has happened since earlier in the year, and the actors followed suit a few months afterward. As a result, any “production” work for writers and actors has stopped.
In an interview with EW, The Last Of Us showrunner Craig Mazin reaffirmed something he said in July, that he has finished the first script of the second season and that his team is “raring to go” to make the rest:
“We were able to map out all of season two. And I also wrote and submitted the script for the first episode and sent it in [to HBO] around 10:30 or 10:40 p.m. right before the midnight [makes a “kajoomph” sound] and the [WGA] strike began.
I think it’s becoming essentially a near certainty that we won’t be able to start [filming] when we were hoping to start, which is upsetting. We are all raring to go. This is what we are born to do. This is how we not only choose to live our lives, but I believe [how we] are compelled to live our lives. Otherwise, why the hell would we do this insane job? I can assure you it’s not for money.”
That statement brings up another irony: money is the lynchpin in these strikes. Both the writers’ and actors’ guilds want fairer pay from the studios, given their work and the profits they provide the studios. But the studios aren’t budging on certain matters, and thus, the strike continues, and the wait for Season 2 will get longer with each day that passes.
