The Last of Us Season 3: HBO Boss Doubles Down on the Final Season

HBO boss Casey Bloys told Deadline at an Emmys afterparty that The Last of Us Season 3 is planned as the show's last.

It is the second time this year he has said it, and it still puts him at odds with showrunner Craig Mazin, who has a four-season plan. Season 3 airs next year and moves the story to Abby, played by Kaitlyn Dever.

Asked whether the third season closes the show, Bloys credited his showrunner with the decision.

"I think Craig has planned it as the final season,"

— Casey Bloys

In February he gave Deadline a vaguer version of the same answer, saying it certainly seemed that way. Mazin has said the opposite in public: a fourth season is needed, and there is no way to land the story in three. The only new evidence here is the calendar. Bloys spoke this month, Mazin spoke months earlier, and insider Daniel Richtman claimed back in May that the season was built as the last, when the ending was still rumored to be the final one.

Production has not been smooth. Shooting under the working title Calm Current was put on hold between June 1 and June 28, according to the British Columbia production directory, against a schedule meant to run to November 2026. HBO has not dated the premiere, and 2027 is still the expectation.

The cast shifted as well. Jorge Lendeborg Jr. took the Manny role from Danny Ramirez, Clea DuVall joined as a Seraphite, and Peter Sarsgaard plays Amon, a Seraphite leader written for the series. Catherine O'Hara was due back as Gail Lynch before she died in February at 71, and Mazin paid tribute to her on the Scriptnotes podcast.

HBO split Abby and Ellie into separate blocks in Season 2 instead of cutting between them the way Part 2 does, and the reaction was more divided than the near-unanimous praise for Season 1. Eurogamer's review of the penultimate episode flagged the cost of that choice: an hour spent in flashbacks with Joel left the finale to cover ground the season should have already passed.

I keep coming back to the structure rather than the discourse around it. Part 2 earns its ending by making the player live inside Abby's days before judging her, and a season arriving a year after an Ellie-first run has to rebuild that trick from scratch. I would bet Mazin is right that three seasons is tight and Bloys is right about what HBO will order.

Mazin also has another HBO job waiting. His Baldur's Gate 3 adaptation was announced early this year, with Larian outside the production but open enough to host him at its offices and talk ideas through.