HBO’s Last Of Us Writer Removes Name From Borderlands Film

The Borderlands movie wrapped principal photography in June 2021. Now, two years later and following reshoots and rewrites, Last of Us co-writer and co-creator Craig Mazin has seemingly decided he doesn’t want his name attached to the upcoming film which still doesn’t have a release date or trailer.

First announced in 2015, it took years for the Borderlands movie to actually lock down a director and start filming. Based on the popular Gearbox-developed sci-fi co-op FPS RPG franchise, Borderlands finally started filming in 2021 with a star-studded cast that included Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Jamie Lee Curtis. In June 2021, shortly after filming was finished, we got our first look at the cast as their characters. However, two years later, that’s basically all we’ve seen. Not a good sign! In January 2023, things only got worse as it was confirmed that the film would receive reshoots under a new director, Tim Miller. A new writer, Zak Olkewicz, was also brought in to help pen some new pages for Miller. And now, it looks like the film’s original co-writer, Craig Mazin, wants his name nowhere near this film.

As reported by World of Reel and confirmed via the Writer’s Guild website, the current credited writers on the Borderlands film are Eli Roth and Joe Crombie, a pseudonym for Craig Mazin. This is similar to how, back in the day, directors working on a film they didn’t like or want their name connected to would opt to use the popular fake name of Alan Smithee. So it’s highly likely that Mazin is doing the same and choosing to omit his name for a made-up credit in order to no longer be attached to the upcoming film adaptation.

Mazin came to prominence writing comedy, with credits on screenplays like Scary Movie III and The Hangover Part II. More recently, however, he’s made a name for himself in prestige drama, helming HBO’s acclaimed Chernobyl series before working on the TV adaptation of The Last of Us.

The Borderlands film is a mess

World of Reel further reports that beyond Mazin, Roth, and Olkewicz, a long list of other writers have worked on the Borderlands movie screenplay, including Aaron Berg, Oren Uziel, Juel Taylor, Tony Rettenmaier, Chris Bremner, Gary Ross, and The Idol creator Sam Levinson.

Keep in mind that this movie is primarily based on the original Borderlands game, which doesn’t have the most complex or hard-to-tell story. So why nearly a dozen writers have been brought in to help poke and prod at the movie’s script, I have no idea. But my already low expectations for this film have somehow plummeted even further.

The Borderlands movie will (probably) be released in theaters, eventually. Maybe next year?