In 2025, The Last of Us showrunner Craig Mazin claimed that “There’s no way to complete the narrative in a third season,” and that “the most likely outcome” would be finishing the show with a fourth.
However, when Deadline asked HBO chief Casey Bloy about rumours of The Last of Us wrapping up next season and tying the knot on Part 2’s story, Bloy said, “It certainly seems that way.”
“But on decisions like that, we will defer to the showrunners,” he continued. “So you can ask them.”
So, Season 4 hasn’t been completely ruled out yet, but with Bloy noting that it “seems that way,” it certainly looks likely that one of the most critically-acclaimed video game adaptations will be coming to a close soon.
While Season 2 was still a success, it dropped in ratings after Joel’s death in the second episode, with the fourth and fifth episodes having smaller audiences than any of Season 1’s. Of course, second seasons typically show a decline, but this is unusual for a prestige HBO adaptation.
Season 2 was also mired in much controversy, and while critics enjoyed Mazin’s adaptation of the second game, audiences were more divided.
Is A Fourth Season A Good Idea?
Then there’s the matter of source material; Season 1 adapts the first game, whereas Season 2 only tells part of the sequel, as it’s being split across numerous seasons despite complaints of pacing issues with the game itself. Stretching The Last of Us Part 2 even further with a fourth season only risks making that dwindling interest worse.
Former Features Editor at TheGamer Tessa Kaur argued that Season 2 already ran into issues with padding, and that exploring Jackson further in the show “doesn’t really add anything to the complex themes” and that, with years between seasons, as has unfortunately become the norm in television, breaking Part 2 up into pieces is a risky gamble that will likely only burnout audiences.
Still, if Bloy is to be believed, then it’s ultimately down to the showrunner, i.e. Craig Mazin, who said last year that he hopes to “earn our keep enough to come back and finish it with a fourth.” Though Bloy also said in 2025 that “Craig is still working it out whether it will be two more seasons or one more long season”, and that it hadn’t been decided yet.
- Release Date
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January 15, 2023
- Network
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HBO
- Showrunner
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Craig Mazin
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Bella Ramsey
Ellie Williams
