Last Of Us TV Show Adds New Directors Who Have Released Celebrated Films

HBO's The Last of Us TV show has added two new directors, both of whom have released highly regarded films. The new directors are Jasmila Žbanić and Ali Abbasi, according to a report from Variety.

Žbanić recently released Quo Vadis, Aida, which was nominated for Best International Film at the Oscars. It didn't win, but getting a nomination is a big deal. It did win the Film Independent Spirit Award for best international film this year.

Abbasi, meanwhile, won the Un Certain Regard award at the Cannes Film Festival for his 2018 movie Border, which is also known as Gräns.

Johan Renck, who directed HBO's Chernobyl, was originally attached to direct the pilot for The Last of Us, but he would later drop out. Kantemir Balagov (Beanpole) came in to replace him.

It is not immediately clear how many episodes are in Season 1 for The Last of Us, and the Variety report didn't have any word on the breakdown between Žbanić and Abbasi as it related to which episodes they will direct.

Craig Mazin, who wrote Chernobyl, is attached as a writer for The Last of Us TV show alongside the writer-director of the game, Neil Druckmann.

Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones) and Pedro Pascal (Game of Thrones, The Mandalorian) have signed on to play Ellie and Joel, respectively. Gabriel Luna (Agents of Shield) has been brought on to play Tommy. A recent report said cameras would start rolling on The Last of Us TV show in Canada this July.

Recently, Druckmann spoke about how the Last of Us TV show will deviate significantly from the games. "Some of my favorite episodes so far have deviated greatly from the story, and I can't wait for people to see them," he said.

As for the game series, Naughty Dog might make The Last of Us 3, or potentially a new IP, as its next game. On the more immediate horizon, Naughty Dog is developing a standalone Last of Us multiplayer game. In other news, a recent report said Naughty Dog is also working on a Last of Us remake for PS5.