The Last of Us Writer Craig Mazin Abruptly Disappeared From Borderlands Movie Credits. What’s Really Going on?

If you’re into video games or entertainment, it’s very likely that you’ve heard of Craig Mazin. He’s co-creator and showrunner on HBO’s mega-hit The Last of Us, he co-wrote the second and third Hangover movies, he co-created HBO’s Chernobyl, and was previously announced to be one of the writers of the upcoming Borderlands film adaptation.

But mysteriously, as first spotted by World of Reel, his name is nowhere to be found in the writing credits for Borderlands on the Writers’ Guild of America website. Instead, under “screenplay by,” it credits director Eli Roth and a “Joe Crombie.” Given that there is no Joe Crombie that is an established writer (and the WGA didn’t include any hyperlink to Joe Crombie’s WGA member page, as it does with other writers), many have assumed it’s a pen name for Mazin.

It does have several other writing credits on the page – for Aaron Berg, Chris Bremner, Sam Levinson, Zak Olkewicz, Tony Rettenmaier, Juel Taylor, and Oren Uziel – but Mazin is not among them.

Obviously, speculation ran rampant. Kotaku was among those to highlight Borderlands’ labored production, with the project first announced in 2015. Roth was announced as director in 2020, along with Mazin as a writer. 

Since then, basically all we’ve seen is a silhouette-style image of the star-studded cast – which includes Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Jamie Lee Curtis – that came back in 2021 after production wrapped. There was also some footage shown to theater owners at 2022’s annual CinemaCon trade convention. Meanwhile, reports emerged earlier this year that it was getting reshoots with a new director, Deadpool’s Tim Miller, with new writer Olkewicz in the mix as well as Roth moved to work on his slasher Thanksgiving. 

So are the reports of troubled production true? Does Mazin, who just scored a critically acclaimed prestige TV hit (and history-making Emmy nominations) with The Last of Us, really want his name nowhere near this film? We investigated and, well… it only gets weirder from there.

The Case of the Missing Credit

IGN reached out to Mazin’s reps, who pointed out that film credits come from the WGA, not the writers themselves. His publicist added that Mazin has “nothing to do with the pen name Joe Crombie,” and that if the WGA has decided he’s not getting credit, then he’s not getting credit. 

So, in layman’s terms, it’s true: Mazin will not be credited as a writer on the Borderlands movie as it stands now. 

IGN also reached out to Lionsgate, the studio behind the Borderlands movie, who did not comment on the situation.

For further context, we also checked into the WGA’s own literature on writing credits. As the guild points out in its Screen Credits Manual, “writing credit is given for the act of creation in writing for the screen. This includes the creation of plot, characters, dialogue, scenes and all the other elements which comprise a screenplay.”

So what if a writer wants to withdraw their own name from a movie? The WGA says that “prior to the time a credit question has been submitted to arbitration, a writer may withdraw from screen writing credit for personal cause, such as violation of his/her principles or mutilation of material he/she has written.”

If the other writer/contributors do not agree with the withdrawal, the WGA continues, it will be referred to the Arbitration Committee. 

“Withdrawal from writing credit will result in loss of any and all rights accruing from receipt of writing credit,” it continues. “Use of a pseudonym rather than withdrawing from credit will not result in such a forfeiture.”

Writing further about pseudonyms later in the manual, the WGA says that any writer who is entitled to credit on screen and who has been paid, or is guaranteed payment of, less than $200,000 has the right to be credited via “a reasonable pseudonymous name.”

With that information, while the WGA is the decider on credits, Mazin could’ve applied to be credited via a pseudonym, assuming he’s made less than $200,000 on the film. As previously mentioned, however, his reps say he has nothing to do with Joe Crombie.

So, here’s what we can definitely say about the situation: Craig Mazin was previously announced to be a writer on Borderlands and is no longer credited as such per the WGA. And speculation over the matter will continue to run rampant, especially as we continue to await a release date for Borderlands.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story said Mazin directed The Hangover trilogy; he co-wrote the second and third movies. IGN regrets the error.

Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.