HBO's 'The Last of Us' creators promise it won't have the same issue as 'Game of Thrones': 'We have no plans to tell any stories beyond adapting the games'

• HBO's "The Last of Us" creators have no plays to stray from the video-game source material.
• "We won't run into the same issue as 'Game of Thrones,'" co-creator Neil Druckmann told The Hollywood Reporter.

HBO's highly anticipated adaptation of the hit video game "Last of Us" has big shoes to fill, and its creators are already promising fans that it won't run into the same problems that another HBO tentpole did.

Neil Druckmann, the show's co-creator who also developed the game, told The Hollywood Reporter that the series won't stray from the source material.

He contrasted that with "Game of Thrones," which ultimately ran out of source material when it caught up with the unfinished book series, resulting in a divisive final season that received a series-worst 55% critic score and 30% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

"We have no plans to tell any stories beyond adapting the games," Druckmann said in the interview. "We won't run into the same issue as 'Game of Thrones' since 'Part II' doesn't end on a cliffhanger," he added, referring to the game's sequel, "The Last of Us Part II."

"The Last of Us" debuts on HBO and HBO Max on January 15. It stars Pedro Pascal as Joel, who is tasked with escorting a young girl named Ellie, played by Bella Ramsey, across a post-apocalyptic US.

The video game is one of the most acclaimed of all time with a 95 out of 100 score on the review aggregator Metacritic. The game and its sequel have sold over 37 million copies combined, according to THR.

The show's first season is expected to cover the entirety of the first game's story, THR reported, which means a second season would likely cover the sequel.

As for a "Last of Us Part III," Druckmann only said: "I think there's more story to tell."

"I don't have any interest in a spinning-plates-go-on-forever show," co-creator Craig Mazin told THR. "When it becomes a perpetual motion machine, it just can't help but get kind of … stupid. Endings mean everything to me."