Previously, HBO’s “The Last of Us” showrunner Craig Mazin had teased that he and franchise creator Neil Druckmann weren’t sure if the show would end with a third or fourth season.
They have made it clear there are no plans to extend beyond adapting “The Last of Us Part II” game, but it’s such a long game it requires multiple seasons to produce. A third season renewal order has already been handed out, but it’s not known for how many episodes.
The current seven-episode second season looks to be ending its adaptation around the halfway point in the game – having added some additional material along the way while glossing over some other things and moving up some things. So could they fit adapting the second half of the game into only a third season?
‘No’ is the answer it seems, as it sounds like the team has mapped out just how much is left to adapt and won’t be able to fit the rest into a single season. Speaking with Collider, Mazin confirms a fourth season will be necessary:
MAJOR SEASON 2 SPOILERS AHEAD
“There are natural perforations in the narrative where you can go, ‘Okay, let’s tear it here.’ I think there’s a decent chance that Season 3 will be longer than Season 2, just because the manner of that narrative and the opportunities it affords us are a little different.
The thing about Joel’s death is that it’s so impactful. It’s such a narrative nuclear bomb that it’s hard to wander away from it. We can’t really take a break and move off to the side and do a Bill and Frank story.
I’m not sure that will necessarily be true for Season 3. I think we’ll have a little more room there. But certainly, there’s no way to complete this narrative in a third season. Hopefully, we’ll earn our keep enough to come back and finish it in a fourth. That’s the most likely outcome.”
In the same interview, he promises a lot more about the back story into the war between the W.L.F. and the Seraphites is coming in future seasons, along with hinting that some stuff that from the first half of the game that didn’t make the second season may come back around.
Fans of the game will know the obvious natural break between the third and fourth season, and the show sounds as if it’s likely to follow it with actress Catherine O’Hara telling Variety her character Gale won’t be in the third season as: “Craig did say definitely not this next season. It’s the Abby story.”
The second season finale of “The Last of Us” airs this coming Sunday. Production dates for the third season have not yet been confirmed but the new run is expected to arrive sooner than the over two years between the first two seasons.
