Craig Mazin, active participant in the Writers Strike, had to toe a fine line when talking about The Last of Us in athat just went up. He says the strike stopped the show’s production, something he certainly supports, but he was able to squeeze out at least a little information about the upcoming season 2, which will indeed cover at least half of The Last of Us Part 2, the game.
One question asked is whether or not Mazin has found its Abby, the hugely important character from Part 2, and the most key cast member they will add since Joel and Ellie themselves. Mazin does not give a straight answer but the interviewer says he “turns red.” Here’s his actual answer: “The strike stopped us in our tracks. Things were in process. Look, Abby was the first role that we wanted to tackle. We’ve got a pretty good track record of making major cast announcements and people going, “Really?” which will probably continue. So people may disagree, but I think we got it right so far and the audience seems to feel we got it right and the Academy seems to feel we got it right.
I find this to be a pretty interesting answer. I don’t think many people said “really?” when Pedro Pascal was cast as Joel , but they did say that with Bella Ramsey’s Ellie, who I do not believe anyone was expecting to take the role. She does not look like game Ellie at all, but absolutely channels her attitude and personality, and she has won fans over as a result.