HBO boss on Neil Druckmann’s departure: “A lot of people don’t realize that Neil has a full time job creating video games…”

Rush2112

Rush2112

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variety.com

HBO Max Boss Casey Bloys on ‘The Penguin’ Season 2, What’s Next for ‘The Last of Us’ and If He’d Ride a Plane Piloted By Nathan Fielder

HBO and Max content CEO Casey Bloys celebrated his 142 Emmy nominations, discussing 'The Penguin' Season 2, what's next for 'The Last of Us' and more.
variety.com variety.com

From the article:

"The big news for 'The Last of Us' was Neil Druckmann stepping away. Can you talk a little bit about that? From HBO's perspective, what that meant for you, and talking to Craig Mazin about where things go now in Season 3."

"Obviously it was great to have Neil involved in the beginning. The whole reason that I wanted to do 'Last of Us' is after 'Chernobyl,' I said to Craig, 'what do you want to do next?' And 'Last of Us' was what he wanted to do. That's what was most important to me, Craig's creative excitement about the show. It was fantastic to have Neil involved. A lot of people don't realize that Neil has a full time job creating video games and running Naughty Dog. It's a really big job that he's got. So I understand why he needs to focus on that. But I believe he's given us a good blueprint with the show. And obviously Craig is a pro, so I think we'll be in excellent shape. I'm not worried at all."
 
S2 was dogshit even with Druckmanns involvement. Doesn't help it was centered on Bella Ramsey who can't act and didn't have Pedro Pascal as the anchor and as much as I liked Isabela Merced, she couldn't save it.

It doesn't help they butchered Ellie and made her thick as fuck, which was a big departure from the game.

S3 could be a massive improvement being centred on Kaitlyn Dever.
 
Rush2112 said:
variety.com

HBO Max Boss Casey Bloys on ‘The Penguin’ Season 2, What’s Next for ‘The Last of Us’ and If He’d Ride a Plane Piloted By Nathan Fielder

HBO and Max content CEO Casey Bloys celebrated his 142 Emmy nominations, discussing 'The Penguin' Season 2, what's next for 'The Last of Us' and more.
variety.com variety.com

From the article:

"The big news for 'The Last of Us' was Neil Druckmann stepping away. Can you talk a little bit about that? From HBO's perspective, what that meant for you, and talking to Craig Mazin about where things go now in Season 3."

"Obviously it was great to have Neil involved in the beginning. The whole reason that I wanted to do 'Last of Us' is after 'Chernobyl,' I said to Craig, 'what do you want to do next?' And 'Last of Us' was what he wanted to do. That's what was most important to me, Craig's creative excitement about the show. It was fantastic to have Neil involved. A lot of people don't realize that Neil has a full time job creating video games and running Naughty Dog. It's a really big job that he's got. So I understand why he needs to focus on that. But I believe he's given us a good blueprint with the show. And obviously Craig is a pro, so I think we'll be in excellent shape. I'm not worried at all."
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Somehow I think the SIE mothership told Druckman that he had to go back and get to work on ND as it was running without someone at the helm and he is likely the kind of artist that would not want other creatives running things without him approving every detail so ND struggled a bit.
 
He says others things about season 3 too:

"Can Season 3 make the 2026-2027 TV season, what's the timeline? And if it follows the game, will that be the final season?

The series is definitely planned for 2027. Craig is still working it out whether it will be two more seasons or one more long season. It hasn't been decided yet, and I'm following Craig's lead on that.

Obviously, since the show follows the game, the characters change. Already with Pedro out and it's sort of a question mark how much Bella will be seen in the new season. Is that a challenge?

Not from a marketing perspective, because I think the title is obviously helped by the video game, and now the first two seasons is pretty well established. I kind of appreciate shows that take things and do a show from a different point of view."
 
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VulcanRaven said:
Or maybe is the truth. I can imagine others in the company being frustrated when the boss and director is away doing other things.
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This is not for people at the company. This is clearly damage control or spinning the narrative of Neil leaving as jumping/sinking ship or whatever. The reception of Season 2 was nasty for them.
 
oh great.....another ND thread

Peace Out Reaction GIF
 
Rush2112 said:
A lot of people don't realize that Neil has a full time job creating video games and running Naughty Dog. It's a really big job that he's got. So I understand why he needs to focus on that.
Click to expand...
For some reason, that didn't matter for the first season. Didn't he have those same obligations then? What could've possibly changed? It's truly a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. Probably has nothing to do with Part 2's story sucking ass in two different mediums. Yeah... nothing to do with that at all. I guess we'll never truly know.
 
They series should have wrapped with a 10 episode second season. There's no reason to drag this out for another 4 years.
 
realcool said:
For some reason, that didn't matter for the first season. Didn't he have those same obligations then? What could've possibly changed? It's truly a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. Probably has nothing to do with Part 2's story sucking ass in two different mediums. Yeah... nothing to do with that at all. I guess we'll never truly know.
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Maybe the company just got tired of him being away for months directing and voiced their frustration not long ago. Him being away hurts development. Also cancellation of TLOU multiplayer game and new projects starting might be a reason that he needs focus on ND even more.

This is my speculation: He left to start working TLOU Part 3 alongside Intergalactic. His Part 2 writing partner Halley Gross left the show at the same time and said that this is to make space for what comes next.
 
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Honestly don't want people upset about me ripping on ND. It's just a game. I hate to see people dip out of threads over my reaction being toxic, but fuck man. I didn't like the ending of TLOU2, that's all. I could have stood Joel getting killed if Ellie got revenge, but that ending messed me up. That's why I no longer enjoy ND and dislike Druckmann.
 
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So if it's his full time job did he take a 2 year vacation or something? They just don't want to admit that they fired him because just like the game, season 2 was a fucking disaster
 
Season 1 managed to get through to normies I work with and they liked it. I have never heard a single person say they liked season 2.

Oh well, it's not the first show that fell apart after the first season and won't be the last. Just a shame that Neil will be back at Naughty Dog handcrafting the Interstellar protag's biceps to fit his fetish.
 
Rush2112 said:
variety.com

HBO Max Boss Casey Bloys on ‘The Penguin’ Season 2, What’s Next for ‘The Last of Us’ and If He’d Ride a Plane Piloted By Nathan Fielder

HBO and Max content CEO Casey Bloys celebrated his 142 Emmy nominations, discussing 'The Penguin' Season 2, what's next for 'The Last of Us' and more.
variety.com variety.com

From the article:

"The big news for 'The Last of Us' was Neil Druckmann stepping away. Can you talk a little bit about that? From HBO's perspective, what that meant for you, and talking to Craig Mazin about where things go now in Season 3."

"Obviously it was great to have Neil involved in the beginning. The whole reason that I wanted to do 'Last of Us' is after 'Chernobyl,' I said to Craig, 'what do you want to do next?' And 'Last of Us' was what he wanted to do. That's what was most important to me, Craig's creative excitement about the show. It was fantastic to have Neil involved. A lot of people don't realize that Neil has a full time job creating video games and running Naughty Dog. It's a really big job that he's got. So I understand why he needs to focus on that. But I believe he's given us a good blueprint with the show. And obviously Craig is a pro, so I think we'll be in excellent shape. I'm not worried at all."
Click to expand...
Honest Translation:

"Whew! Well imagine our surprise and excitement when we found out that Neil had finally been given his marching orders to piss off back to ND or risk losing his seat for more talented and focused upstarts. I mean the idea of doing a show of TLOU and having the creator work with us seemed like a great one in the beginning. But f*** me! The meddling… Craig's a prestigious and decorated Director and we've all been at this for years. We're certainly not wading in and telling Neil how to direct his games and wouldn't dream of it. It's just exhausting when you're trying to work with an armchair "expert" who wins a few accolades in the interactive space and then thinks he's the next Nolan.

At least we didn't have to rock the boat to put him back in his place, and we can focus on trying to rework the last season of the show, and maybe introduce a little more creative liberty to bring the ratings back up for the final part of the story.

And hopefully Neil can focus on putting down his persistent need to ride on past glories of the TLOU success and develop something new.

It'll be interesting to see if he can demonstrate a real success streak or if TLOU was a fluke; lightning in a bottle (largely the product of material influences from his team and peers at the time) and he'll spend the rest of his career a failing who never quite understood how to make it rain again…"
 
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Memati187 said:
I would watch season 2&3, any crap they output, as long as they keep that punk full-time over there. Gaming doesn't need that delusional prick.
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Like...do you even believe what you're saying? TLOU 1 and 2 are at worst, very well made games with slightly boring mechanics.

He is clearly very good at what he does. Are people so blinded by their politics/dislike of a person that they just ignore what is essentially objective facts?
 
ChorizoPicozo said:
Just a quick YT search about Neill leaving:











-"Who Gives A Shit".
-"Exactly."
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WTF. Clearly nobody knows what happened because some of them are saying he was fired and some other people are saying he quit. So which is it?

I think everybody knows the second season didn't do as well as the first one (just like with the game) but it probably still remains among HBO's most watched TV shows in history (which is not a small feat).

I liked the second game but haven't watched the second season (only a couple of episodes), didn't think it was a bad show.
 
Neil finna finish his tenure at ND. You can only stall so long… now if intergalactic has any issues it'll be time to kick him to the curb.

Good luck bucko!
 
... personally, I wouldn't announce that Druckmann's primary job - President of Naughty Dog, as well its Studio Head, and Game Director, Producer, Writer, and Editor - is so inconsequential that few people actually know he has it. I thought Neil's Naughty Dog's statement was sufficient commentary on that aspect.
 
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powder said:
I'm convinced those nominations are based on popularity and viewership. There's no way that shit is getting best drama series.
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I was wrong before. It got 16 nominations:

bloody-disgusting.com

‘The Last of Us’ Receives SIXTEEN Emmy Nominations Including Best Actress for Bella Ramsey

The nominees for this year’s Emmy Awards were announced this afternoon and HBO’s “The Last of Us” has proven to be one of the hottest television shows in this year’s lineup. “The Last of Us” has received a total sixteen Emmy nominations this year, including top categories Outstanding Drama...
bloody-disgusting.com bloody-disgusting.com
 
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