The Last Of Us Season 3 Release Window Confirmed

The release window for The Last of Us season 3 has been confirmed. After The Last of Us season 2 ended with massive cliffhangers and the game-changing twist of switching to the perspective of Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), fans are eager to know when the hit HBO Max series will continue.

In the aftermath of season 2, the series experienced a considerable change behind-the-scenes as co-showrunner Neil Druckmann made the decision to step away from the adaptation so he could focus on developing projects for Naughty Dog, the same video game development studio that made The Last of Us games.

While speaking with Variety, HBO and Max content chairman/CEO Casey Bloys now confirmed that the plan is for The Last of Us season 3 to be released in 2027. He also discusses how many more seasons there will be as showrunner Craig Mazin adapts the rest of the story from The Last of Us Part II game. Check out Bloys' comments below:

The series is definitely planned for 2027. Craig is still working it out whether it will be two more seasons or one more long season. It hasn’t been decided yet, and I’m following Craig’s lead on that.

What This Means For The Last Of Us

There Will Be A Long Wait For Season 3

The release window for The Last of Us season 3 was previously expected to be 2027, and now Bloys' comments confirm that this will be the case. Between Druckmann stepping away, Mazin and his creative team still figuring out whether one or two more seasons is needed, and production still a long ways off, a 2026 release window would not have been feasible.

Even if season 3 premieres in early 2027, there will still be a roughly two-year hiatus since season 2 debuted in April 2025. There was also an approximately two-year hiatus between seasons 1 and 2, but this delay was partly due to the Writers Guild of America strike, during which season 2's scripts could not be worked on.

If the decision is made to do one final, long season instead of two more shorter seasons, the wait for season 3 could go beyond two years. It will take more time to write and film a longer season, especially given the high production value and intricate sequences needed to adapt the rest of the second game's story.

Our Take On The Last Of Season 3's Release Window

It Is Not All Bad News

The ongoing trend of two or more years between seasons of popular streaming shows is frustrating, but it may not be the worst thing for this series. The Last of Us season 2's reviews were not as strong, partly due to issues with pacing and feeling like an incomplete story.

In order to make season 3 better, these issues need to be addressed going forward. As difficult as it is to wait two years or more, I do not want Mazin and his creative team to rush the scripts or production to simply get the new episodes out faster.

The Last of Us season 3 will be worth the wait if it has better pacing and feels like more of a complete story than season 2 and is able to return to the heights of season 1.