Will The Last of Us Get a Season 4? Showrunner Craig Mazin Says 'There's No Way to Complete This Narrative' in Season 3

The Last of Us’ hugely successful TV adaptation was confirmed for Season 3 before Season 2 even kicked off. But will it have a Season 4? Showrunner Craig Mazin has indicated a fourth season is pretty much essential for the series.

Speaking to Collider, Mazin agreed that in order to wrap up The Last of Us’ story from the two Naughty Dog-developed video games in Season 3 would mean Season 3 itself "would take forever." So, while there's a "decent chance" Season 3 will be longer than Season 2, at the end of the day "there’s no way to complete this narrative in a third season."

He continued: "Hopefully, we’ll earn our keep enough to come back and finish it in a fourth. That’s the most likely outcome."

Warning! Spoilers for The Last of Us follow:

Here’s Mazin’s quote in full, which includes a big spoiler for The Last of Us Season 2:

Yeah, and it would take forever. There are natural perforations in the narrative where you can go, “Okay, let’s tear it here.” 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. The thing about Joel’s death is that it’s so impactful. It’s such a narrative nuclear bomb that it’s hard to wander away from it. We can’t really take a break and move off to the side and do a Bill and Frank story. I’m not sure that will necessarily be true for Season 3. I think we’ll have a little more room there. But certainly, there’s no way to complete this narrative in a third season. Hopefully, we’ll earn our keep enough to come back and finish it in a fourth. That’s the most likely outcome.

The Last of Us premiered in January 2023 to major acclaim, even being touted by some as the best video game adaptation thus far. Season 1 collected a whopping eight Emmy awards out of the 24 nominations it received.

Season 2 sees leads Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal return as Ellie and Joel, alongside newcomer Kaitlyn Dever as Abby, a soldier who is dead set on revenge in the wake of losing someone close to her. Beef star Young Mazino, Alien: Romulus star Isabelle Merced, Captain America: Brave New World star Danny Ramirez, and legends Catherine O’Hara and Jeffrey Wright are also in Season 2.

In March, series creator Neil Druckmann cast doubt on the prospect of The Last of Us 3, saying: “I guess the only thing I would say is don’t bet on there being more of Last of Us. This could be it.”

But if there’s no The Last of Us 3, would Naughty Dog and Druckmann keep the TV show going past the games?

That’s the question IGN put to Druckmann himself on the red carpet ahead of The Last of Us Season 2 premiere, and he replied to say that while he has an ending of The Last of Us story in mind, because he’s not sure if he’ll get the chance to make The Last of Us 3, he’s leaving nothing on the line.

“I have to have an ending,” Druckmann said. “When I made The Last of Us 1, I didn’t know if there was going to be a sequel, so that had to be a definitive ending. When I worked on Uncharted 4, I don’t know if we’ll ever get to do it again. I need it to be a definitive ending. Last of Us 2, same way. All these things have to line up.

“I don’t know how long I’ll keep doing this or whether I’ll be given another opportunity. So I leave nothing on the line.

“Right now it’s like, we have an ending in mind. And that ending will be it. That ending will be it for this story.”

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.