Are We Still Going To Care About 'The Last of Us' Season 3 After a Two-Year Wait?

Back in the day, when your favorite television show ended for the season, you just had to wait a few months until it popped back up on your screen again. Wild cliffhangers and exciting plots occurred in May, and then you just sat through summer reruns before all your questions were answered in September. Things have changed quite a bit because of streamers and cable networks. HBO's smash hit, The Last of Us, recently announced that Season 3 won't be arriving back on our screens until 2027! This serious delay (and several other controversies already plaguing the show) raises the question: are fans still going to tune into The Last of Us Season 3 after a long two-year wait?

'The Last of Us' Season 2 Finale Left Viewers With a Lot of Uncertainty

There is endless drama that the Last of Us characters have to face, but the Season 2 finale, which aired in May, upped the ante even more. Isaac (Jeffrey Wright) and his army, the WLF, raise the stakes in their war with the cult group, the Seraphites. Ellie (Bella Ramsey) ends up with major blood on her hands after being involved in the deaths of two WLF members. In one of the show's most heartwrenching scenes, Tommy (Gabriel Luna) is shot and Jesse (Young Mazino) is killed by Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), who then turns the gun on Ellie.

The gun goes off, and the screen cuts to black, leaving us with a major cliffhanger that we might never recover from. Does Abby take out Ellie like she intends to, or does someone else intervene to save Ellie's life? However, the finale isn't over with that frustrating fade to black. The last scene focuses on Abby, showing her standing in a huge stadium where the WLF has set up a base. The words "Seattle Day One" flash on the screen, telling us that Season 3 will actually follow the previous three days, but from Abby's perspective this time.

This change in POV is creating some turmoil in the Last of Us fandom. Fans were already in an uproar over the killing of Joel (Pedro Pascal) in Season 2, and have been very vocal about not loving the changes from the video game from which the series was adapted. It's also a narrative risk to switch perspectives from a beloved character like Ellie to Abby, who, so far, has just been portrayed as the villain. But the storytelling is not the only aspect that's changing from Season 2 to Season 3. In July, it was announced that the creator of the game and co-showrunner Neil Druckmann would be leaving before the new season. Another key figure behind the scenes, writer Halley Gross, is also exiting the series. The Last of Us did suffer from lower ratings in its second season, but it feels like there's certainly been a lot of upheaval both on-screen and off.

Will Viewers Still Tune Into Season 3 of 'The Last of Us'?

There is a very strong possibility that these changes will result in even lower viewership when Season 3 arrives. Now that we know that won't be for another two years, there's even more cause for concern. Will fans simply lose interest by the time Season 3 rolls around? With tons of new shows dropping on streamers all the time, it's possible that The Last of Us won't be the show to obsess over anymore by the time it returns. There have been some series that have definitely been hindered by long wait times. Shows such as House of the Dragon and Euphoria have seen a great deal of fan frustration with having to wait years between seasons.

However, The Last of Us has a built-in audience because of the video game, and some fans will tune in because they're already invested in these characters. Perhaps they're hoping that Joel and Ellie will make appearances, or they're just willing to give the Abby-focused episodes a chance. HBO will need to come up with some unique ways to keep fans interested throughout the two-year gap. Even though it makes sense that the series takes a long time to produce (large production value, expensive special effects, etc.), it probably would have been better if the seasons could have been filmed closer together to offset some of the disappointment.

Other Shows, Like 'The Pitt,' Have Reduced the Wait Between Seasons

Several streaming shows have developed successful strategies that result in seasons getting released more quickly. Another HBO Max show, The Pitt, rushed into production on its second season so that fans will only have to wait a mere nine months for the show's return. Meanwhile, Hulu's The Bear has previously filmed seasons back-to-back, resulting in the show airing consistently every summer. Even if there has to be a long wait between seasons, some shows find a way around this snag. Apple TV+'s Severance managed to still get viewers hyped for a Season 2 a full three years later because its audience grew organically through word of mouth. They also relied on creative ad campaigns (such as taking over Grand Central Station for a guerrilla marketing event) that got people excited about tuning in for the premiere.

At this point, we don't know what will happen to The Last of Us' audience in the meantime. Maybe fans will stick by the series and show their loyalty by tuning in when Season 3 finally rolls out, or maybe this will demonstrate that audiences can be a bit more fickle these days. Either way, we'll just have to wait until 2027 to find out.