Neil Druckmann, who co-created and directed the Naughty Dog video games for Sony Playstation and has been quite hands on throughout the first two seasons of the TV adaptation, will take a step back from the series creatively for Season 3, sources confirm to Deadline.

In addition, Halley Gross has also announced she will no longer be working on the HBO series. Gross previously co-wrote “The Last of Us Part II” with Druckmann and worked as an executive producer and writer on the HBO series.

Neil Druckmann, head of the PlayStation studio Naughty Dog and co-creator of The Last of Us, is stepping away from the HBO show based on the 2013 game and its 2020 sequel to focus his work on Naughty Dog's next game. On Instagram, the studio published the following statement from Druckmann: