There are only two weeks left for the television adaptation of The Last of Us to premiere on HBO, which is generating a lot of expectations. Neil Druckmancreator of TLOU and co-president of Naughty Dog, is one of the producers of the series and recently gave his opinion on other video game adaptations, such as that of DOOM.
In a recent interview with The New Yorker Neil Druckmann spoke about the process behind the creation of The Last of Us series, starting from the first ideas with a Sam Raimi film to his meeting with craig mazinthe showrunner of the series that previously gave us the Chernobyl series for HBO.
During the interview Neil Druckmann promised that The Last of Us series will be the best and most authentic video game adaptation to date, to which Craig Mazin said he cheated because he simply took the best history of video games and adapted it for TV. After this, the pair opined why other video game adaptations have not worked.
It should be noted that Craig Mazin is also an avid gamer, as he was the first to contact Neil Druckmann with the intention of adapting The Last of Us to a TV series. However, at that time Druckmann still did not know who he was and rejected him, something that has now become an amusing anecdote.
The original plan was for The Last of Us to be a feature film (with Sam Raimi directing), but after that was scrapped Druckmann asked Carter Swann to find him a new partner. Druckmann believed that it would not be possible to adapt 15 hours of gameplay to only 2 for a film, to which Swann replied that Craig Mazin thought the same.
By then Neil Druckmann had already seen the Chernobyl series on HBO and already knew who Craig Mazin was, so he asked Swan to set up a meeting and the rest is history.
Why there is no point in adapting DOOM to film or TV
When Craig Mazin said he took the best story in video games and adapted it into a TV series, he used Assassin’s Creed as an example of an adaptation that didn’t work. Although Mazin claims to love the Assassin’s Creed series, he believes the fun is in its gameplay and not its story, which led to a nonsensical plot for the 2016 film.
For his part, Neil Druckmann believes that so far only children’s films have been successful, as in the case of Detective Pikachu or Sonic The Hedgehog 2. It was here that Neil Druckmann explained why other video game adaptations, such as DOOM, have failed .
The other thing that people misunderstand is that they think people want to see gameplay on screen.”
The perfect example of this is DOOM, the 2005 film that featured a 5-minute sequence with a first-person perspective, seeking to imitate that of the acclaimed video game. Mazin made mention of the ID Software franchise saying “DOOM is also the perfect effect of something you don’t need to adapt. There’s nothing there that you can’t generate on your own”, to which Druckmann replies: “In addition to the name DOOM, and marketing”.
Craig Mazin believes that cases where IP only contributes the name are destined to fail, as fans will wonder where their product is and the rest will wonder what characterizes the game, “and then you’re in trouble.”
