This story about HBO’s “The Last of Us” first appeared in the Down to the Wire: Drama and Limited Series issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.
Going into Emmy nominations morning, most Emmy watchers figured that “The Last of Us,” the hit HBO drama series adaptation of the PlayStation video game franchise, would do pretty well. But that doesn’t mean they were expecting that the series, a dystopian road trip through an American landscape ravaged by a fungal infection that essentially turns people into zombies, would land 24 nominations, second only to “Succession” among all programs. Nor was Mazin expecting a congratulatory letter from none other than Steven Spielberg.