When Does ‘The Last of Us’ End? HBO Doesn’t Know

A third season of HBO’s The Last of Us is in the works, that we already knew. What we don’t know is whether the show will go beyond that point, and recent comments by HBO head Casey Bloys aren’t helping.

As part of a long interview concerning HBO overall (some of which we’ve covered), Deadline asked Bloys about how much gas the show had in the tank. He told the outlet it “certainly seems that way,” but ultimately said the answer was dependent on showrunner Craig Mazin. Intentional or not, it’s more a non-answer than anything substantial albeit one that probably isn’t as true as it sounds on its face.

Last year, Mazin mentioned adaptating The Last of Us Part II may be a three-season effort, and said trying to tie it off in two “would take forever.” Whiile he suggested a solution would be to just make a longer season three, he acknowleged the writing team was planning ahead in case that extended season couldn’t wrap things up for whatever reason. “We really do try to think things through fundamentally,” he said at the time. “We thought ahead to season three and season four, to try to get as much visibility as we can. […] The challenge of season two was, ‘Okay, this source material goes way beyond one season.’”

The Last of Us Part II has a lot of moving pieces in its story, and it was a long game compared to its predecessor. If the show ended up taking a long time to adapt it, it wouldn’t be that surprising, even if it might rankle both longtime fans and TV-only fans. For now, don’t worry too much about when it’ll end, just when it’ll be back—which currently isn’t until in 2027…hopefully without remaking those first seasons.

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