The second season The last of us He arrives at Max with a firm intention to maintain the level of his excellent first release. Now HBO is faced with a project that adapting the second and last of the Naughty Dog video game. The task that will take several years in its television format, since its story is longer and more complicated. But its creators, Neil Drukmann And Craig MazinThey are in no hurry. They do not want to fall into absurd rainfall.
It was the latter who visited Spain as part of the promotion The last of us Season 2. In Hypertual We were able to sit with him and talk about everything that would happen. From changes in tone to new characters, through the evolution of terrible infected and possible fights and consequences. Craig Mazinproud of new episodes, there were no problems with reaction to everything.
Interview with Craig Mazin The last of us Season 2
The first season The last of us I tried to learn to live and love. What is the topic of the second?
I think that the second season is to learn how to survive when your love is disputed or taken. The fact is that this does not last long. This is one of the greatest tragedies of our life: it’s scary to think that they will not love us or that we will not find someone to love. And we devote a lot of effort. Then we find this, we find this person or we have a child, we admire our parents …
But then time changes everything. And it must change. I do not even mean losing anyone for death, as happens to Joel at the beginning of the first season The last of usThe field even growth is a kind of loss. For someone like Joel, he meets this girl. He loves her. And when the child passes from 14 to 19, it is like losing him. This is not temporary, this is what does not return. And this type of test leads people to rather extreme behavior, and sometimes we ultimately cause harm to those who love because we do not know how to cope with this.
Part of the success of the first issue was that the premiere took place shortly after the Covid-19 pandemic. What is a connection or hook of the second season with the real world?
The hook is always trying to be honest with the experience that we all have at any time. When we started to make a series, we had no idea what the world would be in two years. When we begin to talk about The last of usWe had no idea that the pandemic was approaching. But if you write about universal problems and portrait people with honesty, it does not matter. It doesn’t matter what happens in the world because you will remain relevant. Moreover, I think that everything is too connected with the present, it just seems too relevant. And this is far from being.
How difficult was it to adapt the rhythm of the game, which works with two points of view, on some days, repeating stories, to a serial format that is much more linear?
I love a challenge. I think it’s important to understand why it was so. And this is the advantage of working with the Nile, because I can ask you all these wonderful questions. But also, as a fan of the game, I see it. And here I can use my logic. Because the part of the brain that connects with passion, love and fear, all this, where, I hope, you can find beauty. But in order to get there, everything should be organized effectively.
This is to solve problems, and I love puzzles. Therefore, I approached this as a puzzle. And then another question that will ask me: will it work in this television environment? Or is there any reason to do this in the other way? And that would be a dilemma. This is the type of conversation that the Nile and I had within a few weeks and months, while we began to find out how to decide adaptation The last of us IIField
What do you think is the second season The last of us Can you change your view of the game of those who have already played it?
I do not believe in it because I think that these are two different experience. And I would like to think that the first season did not change anyone about the first game. I think that there is a world in which you like the game and love the series, one more thing you never played in it, and you like the series, one more you like the game, and you did not like the series …
But I cannot imagine the world in which you see this season, and then think: “My opinion about the game has changed.” I think everyone can take their own space. In fact, this is one of the good things. As a fan, I think that sometimes people care that one thing pollutes another. But this is not so. The book is still a book. The game is still a game. The song is still a song. Everything will go well.
One of the wonderful changes in the series is the physique of Abby, which is no longer a muscular woman. How has the time passed when you made this decision?
Well, I don’t know if we once said: “Hey, we do not want to do this.” Rather, we said: “We do not make this a requirement. Let’s give freedom to consider actors who may not correspond to this physical profile. ” There are aspects of physics, which, I think, are necessary for drama. And others who are not. A simple example: let’s say that, having created the first season, we would say to ourselves: “It doesn’t matter Ellie’s height. Suppose we find someone the same height as Joel. ” This will affect the drama, because part of Joel’s work is to protect this lesser person, but we also want to feel this reinforcement of the idea that he may be able to become a father again.
Thus, there are some aspects of physics that are important. One of the things that Neil told me at the beginning, and that it seemed really exciting was that for him the physicist Abby was not as important as for the game. Because you play like Ellie and Abby. And he wanted these styles of games to feel in the other way. This was not a problem in the first game, because Joel is an adult man, and Ellie is a girl. But here it was important, and I thought: “Ah, it explains a lot.” So, we gave ourselves this freedom. And it turned out that the person we found, we believe that this was the right choice.
This season is more infected. In addition, you raised changes in them. Tell me more about what we can expect in this regard.
This time we deepen the infected. In the first season, we do not portray them. I think we were a little careful, because we did not want it to become something like “Zombies come!” But partly it was also because it was the first season. And as soon as he establishes who they are and why they are there, in fact, there are not so many where to throw. They were just a threat that was there. This season we see evolution. And we see evolution in several different ways during the season.
But also, being the second season, one of the things that we wanted to show was how comfortable people began to live in this world now. Because this is what people do. That is, if you remember when the Covid-19 appeared, the fear that we all experience, and I know that it was terrible here in Spain was largely because we had no idea what we really ran into. We did not know if we would die. No one knew this, and the uncertainty is terrible.
Then we begin to understand things. We adapt and find medicines. We change our method of work as a society. And, surprisingly, we are still here. At a high price, but we are still here. Well, the same thing happens in The last of usThe Apocalypse is arriving. This has passed all this time, and now we are at a different point. We are not in the exception zone. We are not cordoned off. We are there in full. And people became an expert in working with them. They created this community, they built these walls, they went out and learned to effectively eliminate these things. That’s when you have problems. When you think it decided. According to the design, as if we wanted to say: “Wow, I think they are no longer afraid.” That’s when they catch you.
You commented that you will not mind seeing expansion and by -products The last of usAlthough you will not work on them. What do you think, what characters or stories do they deserve their own series?
I think you could make a whole series about any character. The whole question about what happened to Joel And Tommy For these 20 years. This is a great story. I wonder what happened there. I am also interested in fireflies. But I would also like to meet completely new people in a completely different place. It is for this reason, at the beginning of the second episode of the first season, we are in Indonesia.
The Americans have such a habit of making a series about the end of the world and simply show the United States. I wondered what exactly is happening in Spain? I would like to know, because every culture reacts in the way. I think that there are some cultures where everything would be completely different, but human stories will be the same. Therefore, I would like to see how the rest of the world, in different places, manages to cope with this. For example, The last of us, MadridField
The last of us Season 2 will present many new characters. What do you think will be a favorite public?
Gift. Clear. I think that there is something charming and beautiful in what Caitlin Dever does with Abby. And we will see more from Abby. In our future there is a lot of Abby. But this season we are a lot of focuses on Ellie and Dina together. Isabella Merced and Bella Ramsey have an impressive chemistry. The way their relationship develops throughout the season, even for those who played video games, I think this will arise interesting and unpredictable ways. Two together – just a completely different aspect. I would like a seat where, as soon as all the zombies disappear, only Ellie and Dina. The Ellie and Dean series would be excellent. I would see that.
Source: Hiper Textual
