The upcoming movie adaptation of The Last of Us has hit something of a stumbling block, with Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann confirming the project has been lumbered in development hell.
Speaking with IGN, Druckmann, who is serving as creative director on the hotly anticipated Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, said that the company hasn’t heard anything on the project in around 18 months.
This may come as a surprise to fans of the game, as it wasn’t too long ago that thing seemed to be coming along. Druckmann himself was heavily involved in the process, and Maisie Williams of Game of Thrones fame seemed all but confirmed to take on the role of the potty-mouthed Ellie.
"It kind of entered development hell like these things tend to do," explained Druckmann. "There hasn’t been any work done on it in over a year and a half."
Things don’t seem to be going well for the Uncharted film either, despite Sony pinning a summer 2017 date on the project.
"Every once in a while [Sony] will come in and they’ll present to us: here’s the script, here’s what we’re thinking," he added. "We’ll tell them what we think works, what we think doesn’t work. That’s where we’re at.
"Last I heard is they got a new screenwriter, but we haven’t seen anything in a while."
Druckmann has his own ideas as to what an Uncharted film should focus on, specifically the relationship between the three main characters: Nate, Sully and Elena.
"If you don’t get that right, I don’t think the film’s going to work. If you get that core right, there’s a chance it could work."