‘The Last of Us’ showrunner Craig Mazin on the show’s 24 Emmy nods, strikes

A lot of Emmy nominations for The Last of Us. The hit freshman HBO drama made history as the first video game adaptation to be nominated for outstanding drama, scoring 24 nods, second only to HBO’s Succession. Stars Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey got acting nominations, along with a lot of the cast and crew.

It was the perfect scenario, according to showrunner and co-creator Craig Mazin, who tells ABC Audio, “The nightmare is that Bella gets nominated and Pedro doesn’t. Pedro gets nominated, but Bella doesn’t. Or, you know, we have so many people on our crew that we were hoping would be nominated.”

“It is a nice opportunity … to recognize, particularly the crew people who have been, you know, shouldering the burden of this very necessary labor action because they can’t work while we can’t work. And we know it’s a hardship for them,” says Mazin, adding, “They are the beating heart of our business.”

It’s also bittersweet for Mazin, who notes, “Our business is in turmoil. There are so many people that are currently not able to work. So it’s hard to celebrate with, you know, the abandon that you might normally have.”

The strike could even force the cancelation of the Emmys telecast on September 18, though Mazin is confident that won’t happen.

“What’s interesting about this year is that it is the 75th Emmys. They’re not going to not do the 75th Emmys. It’s kind of a big anniversary year,” he points out. “So I just presume that they are going to, either, this is all done on time for there to be the Emmys in September, the way they probably will be, or they postpone it. But I can’t imagine that they’re not going to do the 75th annual primetime television Emmys.” 

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