Craig Mazin's disaster stories work best when he gives people time to care about each other. We recommend the patient horror-drama of The Last of Us, though its supporting characters do not always get the attention they deserve.
Fi1m perspective
Joel and Ellie's relationship keeps The Last of Us (2023) worth following when its threats become familiar. Craig Mazin gives people time to care about each other, even in a story with plentiful opportunities for horror. We were moved by the central pair because their attachment develops across nine episodes, rather than being hurried along to the next ordeal. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey make that patience worthwhile. This is television we recommend even to people who have had enough of ruined civilisations.
His early screenwriting work included spoof films and The Hangover Part II (2011), the latter directed by Todd Phillips. He also wrote and directed a parody film in 2008. The shift from comedy to drama came after the Hangover sequels, with Chernobyl (2019), which he created and wrote. That change brought his interest in people under pressure to a historical disaster, with detailed research and a concern for what lies cost.
Mazin likes to build stories around an idea that drives the characters' decisions. With The Last of Us, co-created with Neil Druckmann, the useful choice is to put a relationship at the centre of the apocalypse. Both men write for the series, and Mazin also directs episodes; its success should not be credited to him alone. Their adaptation preserves the importance of human attachment without needing every encounter to feel new.
The trouble comes when the same care is not extended to the supporting characters. Some are expected to make an impression before the scripts have given them enough space, and the demand for feeling becomes noticeable. Serious staging cannot make every familiar apocalypse situation interesting, either. These are limitations in a strong first series, not reasons to dismiss it. Start there for Mazin, with Pascal and Ramsey, and allow for the fact that the people outside their partnership do not always get their due.
Biography
Craig Mazin is an American writer, director and producer. He was born on 8 April 1971 in Brooklyn, New York City, and graduated magna cum laude with a degree in psychology from Princeton University in 1992.
He began his career writing comedy films including Scary Movie 3 (2003), Scary Movie 4 (2006), Superhero Movie (2008), which he also directed, The Hangover Part II (2011), The Hangover Part III (2013) and Identity Thief (2013). Mazin later created, wrote and produced the HBO miniseries Chernobyl (2019), for which he won two Primetime Emmy Awards. He co-created, wrote and executive produced the HBO series The Last of Us (2023–present) with Neil Druckmann, and has directed episodes of the series.
