The Last of Us Could Stretch Into Four Seasons
The HBO series is expected to stretch its adaptation of the second game into three seasons.
The Last of Us Season 1 was almost a one-for-one adaptation. But that didn’t stop showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann from making some detours along the way, introducing new elements like the tendrils, zooming in on previously minor characters like Bill and Frank, and adding new villains like Kathleen in Kansas City.
Despite all the new additions, the series managed to keep up with the pace of the game, completely adapting it start to finish in the first season’s nine episodes. But in adapting the (admittedly more sprawling) sequel game The Last of Us Part II, the showrunners decided it necessitated more than just one season. Now, as we’re almost through with Season 2, we’re getting a glimpse of what that looks like. Could it mean an even slower-paced Season 3? Or maybe even a fourth season? Co-showrunner Craig Mazin suggests that the latter is “likely.”
Season 2 showed Joel’s demise but brought him back for a flashback episode.
Season 2 of The Last of Us shocked audiences by writing off Joel in only the second episode, and sinnce then, the story has been barreling forwards, showing Ellie’s trek to Seattle to find Abby, all the flashbacks between her and Joel, and even establishing the Seraphites, who will play a bigger role down the line.
According to co-showrunner Craig Mazin, this breakneck pace was because of the Episode 2 plot twist. “It’s such a narrative nuclear bomb that it’s hard to wander away from it,” he told Collider. “We can’t really take a break and move off to the side and do a Bill and Frank story.”
More seasons mean more space for standalone portait episodes like Season 1’s “Long, Long Time.”
Thankfully, this will change in the future. “I’m not sure that will necessarily be true for Season 3. I think we’ll have a little more room there,” he said. “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.”
As it stands, The Last of Us is about halfway through the story of The Last of Us Part II, so a fourth season would allow the series to explore the tangents there wasn’t room for in Season 2. It looks like Season 3 will do the same as Season 2 but from Abby’s perspective, just as the point of view shifts in the game, leaving all of Season 4 for a big finale that has the bandwidth for all the supplementary material the series has become known for.
However, it should be noted that HBO hasn’t yet greenlit the show for a fourth season. But if that were to happen, then it’s clear there’s plenty for Mazin and Druckmann to work with.
