Just started watching, never played the games, know the gist of the plot... Why did they set it in 2003 instead of 2013?
When Insider asked series' creators Craig Mazin ("Chernobyl") and Neil Druckmann in December over Zoom why the show's timeline starts in 2003 instead of 2013, like in the game, Mazin said it was something he suggested.
"I just had this thing where if I'm watching a show and it takes place 20 years in the future from my time now, it just seems less real," Mazin told Insider with a laugh. "I'm just less connected."
I suggested this change because it would allow the show's main timeline to be now, in 2023," Mazin continued, adding, "There's just something about saying this is happening now in this parallel universe."
He added: "It also weirdly did give us an opportunity to explore this interesting period of early 2000s. It has its own aesthetic. It's got its own technology. It was an interesting place to freeze the world. It kind of helped give us a little bit more of a period feeling to the world."