“The Last of Us” season two is seeing some major hold-ups in production due to the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike, Variety reported Thursday.
Casting for the second season of HBO’s epic new series, “The Last Of Us,” was well underway until early May, when the WGA strike put everything on hold, a source familiar with the production told Variety. Multiple other sources reportedly said the casting team was in the process of having actors read sides (script pages) directly from the video game, “The Last of Us Part II.”
The script for the second season of the HBO series has not been written yet, with the strike expected to push production back to an early 2024 shooting date, according to Variety. Series co-creator and showrunner Craig Mazin has reportedly been taking part in the strike, having recently been spotted picketing with his WGA peers.
‘The Last Of Us’ REVIEW: The Apocalypse Like You’ve Never Seen It Before | @DailyCaller
What did y’all think of #lastofus on @hbomax ?? https://t.co/79vshKIYXs
— KAY SMYTHE (@KaySmythe) January 16, 2023
His co-creator, Neil Druckmann, who also wrote and served as creative director for the video games upon which the show is based, has not been working on anything to do with “The Last Of Us” season two in any capacity, Variety reported.
Mazin scripted most of the first nine episodes of the show solo, and he co-authored the epic premiere episode and finale with Druckmann. Druckmann also wrote a majority of the seventh episode of the first season.
With the strike reportedly pushing back timelines, it’s likely we won’t see a new season of the show until at least mid-2024, or possibly even later. This is the type of series that really needs people at home on their couches on Sunday evenings, so a summer release might not be the best idea. However, the show’s success and sheer brilliance might be enough to avoid the summer slump, as “Yellowstone” initially believed it could. (RELATED: ‘The Last Of Us’ Ep3 Explains How The End Of The World Happened In 3 Days, And It’s Terrifying)
Either way, it looks like we’re going to be waiting for television to be good again … at least until November, or mid-2024.