Despite what showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann may say, Season 3 of HBO's The Last of Us is not guaranteed.
The live-action adaptation of the hit PlayStation franchise wowed audiences earlier this year, as Season 1 of the series covered the events of the 2013 original game.
HBO quickly announced that Pedro Pascal's Joel Miller and Bella Ramsey's Ellie Johnson would be back, giving the green light to a Season 2 of the show.
However, given the density of content in The Last of Us Part II (the game on which Season 2 will be based), some - including star of the series Jeffrey Pierce - have speculated they may need to "stretch [the HBO series] beyond a second season" to fit it all.
No Guarantee for The Last of Us Season 3
In a recent interview, HBO’s head of drama, Francesca Orsi, set the record straight about plans for a third Season of The Last of Us.
Orsi told Deadline that showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann are "still figuring out where they’re going to come to an end" but, at this point, "there’s no guarantee" a Season 3 will happen:
“I think Craig and Neil are still figuring out where they’re going to come to an end. We have loosely heard that there will be a Season 3 idea for the series, but at this point, we’re taking it one season at a time. There’s no guarantee at this point that we’ll have a Season 3 but I know that they both have a vision for Season 3. Whether that lends itself to doing more [seasons], I don’t know yet.”
This comes despite Mazin publicly stating the plan is to "do [the series] not just for one more season:"
“[There's] quite a bit of story to tell. Our plan is to do it not just for one more season... We should be around for a while.”
Will The Last of Us Season 3 Happen?
Of course, nothing in the entertainment business is official until cameras are rolling (and even then, the rug can get pulled out in a second), but it feels like The Last of Us Season 3 is inevitable.
It would never say this out loud, but after the record-breaking success of Season 1, it feels like HBO will take as many seasons of the post-apocalyptic drama as Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann will give them.
As a star of both the game and series, Jeffrey Pierce told The Direct in an interview back in February, "There’s just so much story to tell in the second game." The Last of Us Part II is big with a much more narratively complex structure than the first game.
To cover the events of that sequel, the HBO team will need at least two more seasons.
And despite not officially being confirmed, Druckmann and Mazin have started working under the assumption of Season 3 happening. Druckmann, who also directed The Last of Us games, recently mentioned they already had "a lot" of where "Season 2 and 3 will go" even when working on Season 1.
So whether HBO likes it or not, it feels like The Last of Us Season 3 is going to happen, simply because it is needed to finish the story being told.
The Last of Us Season 1 can be streamed on Max now.
