As ‘Last of Us’ Earns 24 Emmy Noms, Craig Mazin Talks Strike and Writers Rooms vs. Working Alone: ‘My Philosophies Are Aligned With the Guild’

After a spring spent breaking audiences’ hearts and viewership records for HBO, “The Last of Us” co-creator and showrunner Craig Mazin is having a complicated summer.

On one hand, Mazin’s show just earned 24 Emmy nominations — more than any other show this year besides HBO peer “Succession.” Highlights include lead acting nods for Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey; a whopping seven guest acting nods including deaf 10-year-old actor Kevionn Montreal Woodard; and another in the outstanding drama series category.

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But on the other, Mazin is a proud member of the Writers Guild of America, which has been on strike for 72 days against the studios, networks and streamers that make up the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

The prolific writer spoke to Variety hours after nominations were announced to discuss the achievements he’s most proud of, his take on the WGA’s proposed staffing minimums for writers rooms and more. (Note: The discussion of Bella Ramsey and the Emmys’ gendered acting categories took place over email after the phone interview.)

Congratulations. How are you?

Very good. Very grateful. It’s a weird, weird time — mixed emotions, given the way the world is working. But it was lovely to see how many people, not only from our cast, but our crew were nominated. I’m very worried about our crew, so it’s just good to see them getting the attention they deserve.

It has to be an odd feeling for your show to land 24 Emmy nominations when you’re 72 days into the writers strike, with the actors potentially soon to join you.

I’m happy to talk about all this stuff specifically because I want to support the working artists that made the show. It’s unfortunate that we’re celebrating what we’re doing while struggling with these companies that just don’t want to treat artists fairly. So like I said, mixed emotions. I look at this as an opportunity to remind everybody that our business runs on the work and talent of artists and employees — all of whom are in labor unions. And all of them deserve fair contracts and the ability to earn a living wage and do their jobs with dignity. That’s my term paper on that.

One of the WGA’s proposals is about staffing minimums — a minimum number of writers that a studio must hire depending on how long a season is. How do you feel about that point, as someone who tends to write alone?

No one needs to be too upset on my behalf. Mike White [creator of “The White Lotus”] and I became the poster children for the lone wolf. My understanding — and it’s not just an understanding; I talked about this at length with Chris Keyser and with staff at the WGA — is that minimum staffing would not necessarily impact the way that I write. It’s about employment. It’s not necessarily about who sits in a room and does what.

The truth is, I am one person in a union of 9,000. I may not agree on everything that the union is looking for, but then again, if you agree on everything that your leaders put forward, you’re probably just a robot. Republicans don’t agree on everything the Republican Party says. Democrats don’t believe everything the Democratic Party says. It’s really just, in general, are your principles and philosophies aligned? And in this case, my principles and philosophies are aligned with the Writers Guild in the large general way. So we’ll see what happens. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’m borne by the tide the way everyone else is, just waiting for the companies to stop it. Literally, it’s all I keep thinking to myself. They’ve just gotta stop it. It’s on them to make this right.

On the celebratory side, the lead acting nods for Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey were more expected, but “The Last of Us” completely swept the guest acting categories. Not just Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett for the acclaimed third episode, but also Melanie Lynskey, Storm Reid, Anna Torv, Lamar Johnson, and 10-year-old Keivonn Montreal Woodard, who is now the second-youngest Emmy nominee in history. Have you gotten to speak to your cast yet?

Anna is in Australia, so I emailed her, but I’m not sure what time it is over there. But I talked to Nick and Murray and Melanie and Storm and Lamar. And then I spoke with Keivonn’s mom who had no idea what was going on today. She’s like, “What? What happened?” And she’s so excited, and can’t wait to talk Keivonn — who currently has no idea because he’s in basketball camp.

And I of course reached out to all of our crew. It was a busy morning of texting and emails. 24 nominations is incredible, especially for a first season show. We didn’t set the record apparently — “NYPD Blue” had 27 nominations in their first season, but that was 1993. So that’s the most in 30 years for a new show. It was really, really a wonderful thing to see support from our peers like that.

Bella Ramsey has spoken about being uncomfortable with gendered awards categories, though they’re now nominated as an “actress.” Have you spoken to them about this before? What’s your take on how the Emmys could honor nonbinary performers?

I talk about everything with Bella, so of course we’ve spoken about this. It’s a really interesting challenge. On the one hand, the conversation about gender has transformed dramatically and in a very progressive and positive way. On the other hand, we have to practically make sure that by moving away from gendered categories, we don’t shortchange traditionally overlooked folks … and we know that in non-gendered categories like directing and writing, women have been historically under-appreciated. I don’t know the answer, but I have every expectation that non-binary performers will soon be recognized in the respectful and appropriate way they deserve.

And we don’t normally see genre shows performing this way — especially not video game adaptations. You’ve had a hit show before, but has the reception to “The Last of Us” still felt like a shock?

Anybody who says they’d expect what happened with “The Last of Us” would be possibly a sociopath. No one should think, “The show will be seen by 30 to 40 million people and it’ll get all these Emmy nominations.” We would have been thrilled with just good viewership numbers and good reviews, but it’s been overwhelming.

We can’t wait to get back to it. Once again, we’re all sitting here thrilled, but also just waiting for the companies to… Stop it! To just stop what they’re doing so that we can get back to work making the next season of “The Last of Us.” We are ready to go. The town needs to be able to get back to work.

I know you want to highlight your team — is there a nomination you’re proudest of?

[Being nominated for outstanding drama series] is the biggest, because it covers everyone’s work, including people that may have not received a nomination, all the people that worked so hard on the show. So the show will always be the one that I’m most proud of.

But individually, the one that just made my heart pop open this morning was Keivonn. He’s so young. This is his first acting job. We kind of just found him, like through Twitter. And he was such a joy to work with. Such a beautiful kid, who did such a lovely job. I can’t imagine what it must be like to take a job when you’re eight years old that you’ve never done before, not be scared and just be great at it. So with that one, I was just so tickled. I just thought that was wonderful.

What about your below-the-line nominees?

That’s a tough one, because they’re all my family. It’s hard to to pick one that excites me the most. But there were some that stepped up that are interesting. For instance, Emily Mendez, stepping up from assistant editor to editor and getting an Emmy nomination is awesome. It’s always fun to watch people stepping into a job and just absolutely crushing it like that. I’m always just looking for opportunities to take people who are doing great work and elevate them. It’s selfish, really. I want the benefit of their work!

Lastly, are you doing anything to celebrate your nominations today?

You’ve asked the wrong person. I don’t think I’m celebrating. I’m at a place in my career where I’m very comfortable; this strike isn’t gonna harm me in a serious financial way. I know that is not the case for so many people. So it’s hard to jump up and down and go, “Hurray me!” when I know that people are suffering. Like I said, it’s a mixed emotions day.

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