A New Update Confirms ‘The Last Of Us’ Season 3 Release Date Is Way Too Far Away

The Last of Us season 2 was far more controversial than the first, and I have a feeling that by translating the game’s timeline literally, the HBO show is about to be criticized even more.

We have some new information about The Last of Us season 3’s likely release date, this time from Abby herself, Kaitlyn Dever, who told Deadline she’s leaving to start production in a few days, so that will begin in February 2026.

HBO head Casey Bloys already confirmed that the show would air in 2027, which is no great shock, but when in 2027? Therein lies the issue.

• Filming for season 2 of The Last of Us began in February 2024, leading to an April 2025 release date. That’s a gap of 14 months.
• Given that filming for season 3 is also starting in February 2026, we’re looking at April 2027.
• That is a full two-year gap, assuming no delays, but Craig Mazin previously confirmed he was behind in writing scripts for season 3 compared to where he was at that point ahead of season 2.

This is a bigger problem than for most shows, given how The Last of Us is structured. By mirroring the game format, season 3 will be wholly focused on Abby and the WLF, leaving behind all the characters from the past two seasons. This switchover took seconds in the game, while it will take two years here. Then, for the final season, which merges the two storylines, it will take four years to return to Ellie and Dina in any meaningful capacity, if these timelines stay the same. It could be pushing five years, if we’re not giving the benefit of the doubt.

The one positive here is that maybe the show does need some breathing room from Ellie, who was written so badly last season that it was the biggest turnoff of that season. Kaitlyn Dever is a great actress, so that at baseline is a good start, though of course we’ll need the script to match it. Use…the game script, this time, Craig.

Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann has left the show to go work on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet at his own studio. So the entire show is up to Craig Mazin now, and I do think that’s concerning, given how much of a heavy hand he had in season 2. And some of the better episodes of that season were…Druckmann’s. But this timeline is working against him from the start.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.