Neil Druckmann Goes for the Heart

CMU alumnus and writer and director of the HBO hit “The Last of Us” shares his origin story

“The Last of Us” may be a story about surviving an apocalypse, but it isn’t your standard dystopian tale.

Starting as a video game and now a televised adaptation for HBO, Carnegie Mellon University alumnus Neil Druckmann delivers a meticulously-considered storyline that wraps around your heart, gives it a little pluck and, sometimes, a squeeze.

“It seems like everyone has heard of or watched ‘The Last of Us,’ so that has been incredibly surreal,” says Neil, who graduated in 2005 with a master’s degree in entertainment technology. “It started as a failed CMU project in 2004. Now, I'm watching a promotion for ‘Saturday Night Live’ where Pedro (Pascal, the TV series’ star) will be hosting, and they have a ‘Last of Us’ sketch. I attended a wedding (earlier this year), and I heard people talking about the show around me. It's just bizarre because I have lived with these characters for a lot of years.”

In “The Last of Us” video game, released in 2013, players navigate a post-apocalyptic world where a fungus has turned much of the population into murderous mutants — and many of the human survivors are several shades worse. Joel is a father who lost his own daughter in the early days of the pandemic. He’s charged with transporting a sharp, but broken, teenager named Ellie to safety, where she might be able to save the world.

Neil was the writer and creative director of “The Last of Us,” a game he developed at Naughty Dog game development studios that won many major awards and broke industry records.

Currently, he’s Naughty Dog’s co-president where he oversees the studio’s slate of projects, including the “Uncharted” franchise as well as the HBO adaptation of “The Last of Us.” On the widely-acclaimed television adaptation, Neil serves as co-creator, executive producer, writer and episode director.

Neil drew much inspiration from his personal life — his strong family influences, growing up in Israel's West Bank before immigrating to the United States and interests in everything from comic books to criminology.

Days at Carnegie Mellon University served as a critical creative and professional crossroads. His studies at the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) helped funnel all that’s uniquely him into a successful career that promises we haven't heard the last of him.

Easter Eggs from Two Last Lectures

Easter eggs from Neil’s CMU days are all over the work he’s done with Naughty Dog, just not in the traditional form of items you can discover during game play or catch on the fringe of a frame.

Rather, CMU’s influence on his storytelling has its roots in instruction from two of his ETC professors.

“(Distinguished Professor of the Practice) Jesse Schell is one of my idols, and I think, pretty regularly, about the last lecture he gave,” Neil says.

Schell is well-known for challenging aspiring game designers to take responsibility for the positive impact of their games and not be content with games that are trivial amusements.

“When I did have a chance to lead a project like ‘The Last of Us,’ that lecture was in the back of my mind, especially when I turned my focus towards making Ellie the ultimate protagonist of the franchise,” Neil says. “Back then, it was a much bigger deal to have a female protagonist that was non-sexualized.”

The ETC professor most known for his last lecture is Randy Pausch, who also made a big impact on Neil when he was a student in Pausch’s Building Virtual Worlds course. He gained skills through intensive rotations across the semester, but he also benefited greatly from Pausch’s philosophies around constant evolution, creative iteration, driving for excellence and valuing feedback and criticism.

“That class kind of broke me and then rebuilt me,” Neil says. “Before it, I was way more defensive and less collaborative than I am now. That is another one of those classes that forever changed my life.”

Failing in Order to Succeed

The idea of “The Last of Us” was born at Carnegie Mellon University as part of a class from Associate Teaching Professor Ralph Vituccio. The class was assigned to pitch a game idea to “Night of the Living Dead” director George Romero, who selected the idea pitched by Neil’s classmate and College of Engineering and ETC alumnus Brad Stokan, now an art director at Pipeworks Studios.

“My idea had elements of Joel and Ellie in it, and it was shot down by George Romero. But I wasn’t upset,” Neil says.

ETC lessons gave him the humility needed to be a true team player. He spent that semester working as a VFX artist for his friend’s team and refining his collaboration skills.

“Had I gone in with the mentality that, ‘It always has to be my idea,’ I don't think I would have gotten to the same place at Naughty Dog where I could pitch what turned out to be ‘The Last of Us,’” Neil says. “That's something that stuck with me because even as the head of Naughty Dog, I'm part of a larger structure that is Sony, PlayStation and HBO. I don't get to make the calls on everything, and I can understand what my role is in these much larger structures.”

Collaboration has been key to the HBO series’ success. Neil is able to stay true to the tenor of the plot that made the game stand out while making room for the story to evolve as a scripted series — a prime example of which can be found in the series’ third episode.

Neil trusted writer, showrunner and co-creator Craig Mazin with reimagining the backstory for characters who are well-known to gamers.

The result was a stunningly beautiful episode. It immediately received award buzz preceded the announcement of “The Last of Us” renewal for a second season by just a few days.

“I used to think directing was having this picture in your head, and then you move people, pieces and assets around until it lines up with it,” Neil says.

“What I learned at CMU, and continued at Naughty Dog, is that it’s important to have a strong vision, but also find ways to allow other people to embrace that vision and make it their own. That’s how you get the best work and the best ideas.”

“When I work with collaborators like Craig, who’s an incredible writer, I'm going to give them room to stretch their wings and express themselves,” Neil says. “It gives them the space to create truly surprising art within the framework that we've established.”