The Last Of Us HBO Series Co-Creator Confirms Whether Season 4 Will Happen

Great news for fans of HBO's series adaptation of "The Last of Us," the popular video game series from Naughty Dog. While season 1 followed the events of the first game (mostly), making thematic and storyline changes to better suit the medium of television, season 2 has mostly followed Ellie's journey in "The Last of Us Part II." Of course, the show created by Craig Mazin with "The Last of Us" video game creator Neil Druckmann has continued to make changes to improve the story, but many have assumed that it would come to a close with the recently-confirmed season 3. There's certainly room to stretch the story of "The Last of Us Part II" into a fourth season, but given the fact that season 1 encompassed an entire game, it's not outside the realm of possibility that season 3 could wrap up the story.

However, according to an interview with Mazin for Collider, "there's no way to complete this narrative in a third season." It's important to note that HBO has not yet given the green light to a fourth season, but based on the show's popularity and Mazin's call for it to complete the story arc, a fourth season seems inevitable. Mazin also said, "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." So, for those who were upset by the shortened number of episodes from season 1 (nine) to season 2 (seven), there's a high probability that season 3 will give fans even more weeks to be completely heartbroken and traumatized by the post-apocalyptic series.

Fans of the show who have already played "The Last of Us" video game have already been asking why there has been so little exploration of the Seraphites and the Washington Liberation Front, but Mazin confirmed that this was all an intentional decision by the creative team. As he told Collider:

"I will say, to people who are wondering, 'Are we supposed to know more about these factions? Am I missing something? Did you guys just forget to tell a whole bunch of story?' The answer is that everything has been thought through carefully. No, you haven't gotten all the information you deserve. Yes, the information will be coming. We did this all by design."

It can be assumed by this statement that season 3 will delve deeper into these groups, which is likely why the full story of "The Last of Us Part II" cannot be contained by season 3. However, if season 4 is to be the end of the story, there's also no telling what the future could hold. Mazin has already said that he will not work on a show that goes on beyond the games, but with a rumored (albeit not announced) possibility of "The Last of Us Part III," anything is possible.

"The Last of Us," is streaming on Max now, and the season 2 finale airs on May 25, 2025, at 9 P.M. EST on HBO and the soon-to-be rechristened HBO Max.