The Last of Us season 3: key data
– Officially introduced in April 2025
– No launch date or trailer revealed but
– Filming but to get underway
– Most of the principle forged anticipated to return
– One actor has surprisingly mentioned they will not be again for season 3
– No story synopsis unveiled
– The Last of Us Part II online game gives some clues about its plot
– A fourth and ultimate season might wrap up the story
The Last of Us season 3 is formally within the works at HBO. The extremely in style TV adaptation was renewed for a 3rd season in April 2025, so we’ll be handled to a different season of The Last of Us TV present someday quickly.
While we anticipate it, there’s a lot to maintain you occupied. Below, I’ve coated what we learn about The Last of Us‘ third season to date, together with its probably forged and story specifics. I’ll additionally provide my prediction on its launch date and focus on whether or not a fourth season might be wanted to inform the complete story depicted in The Last of Us Part II, aka the sport on which seasons 2 and three are primarily based.
Full spoilers comply with for The Last of Us season 2 and the second entry in Naughty Dog’s post-apocalyptic online game franchise, so proceed at your individual danger.
The Last of Us season 3 launch date: what we all know
It can’t be for nothing. Season 3 is coming. #TheLastOfUs pic.twitter.com/q5HxyvK9O6April 9, 2025
As of May 2025, The Last of Us season 3 does not have a confirmed launch date. Considering the critically-acclaimed HBO TV Original’s subsequent season hasn’t began filming but, that is not an enormous shock.
However, I would not be stunned if loads of pre-production work has already been executed. Script work, location scouting, lining up a filming schedule, and lots of different developmental particulars have probably been ongoing for months. If they’ve, I’d be amazed if principal pictures does not start in earnest earlier than 2025 ends.
What would that imply for season 3’s eventual launch? I feel a mid-2027 launch is almost certainly. Season 2 made its debut simply over two years after its predecessor ended, so if the sequence maintains that improvement trajectory, a June or July 2027 arrival for season 3 is not out of the query.
The Last of Us season 3 trailer: is there one?
No. As I mentioned, principal pictures hasn’t began but, and even when it will get underway, it will be a very long time earlier than a trailer is launched. Once one is, I’ll replace this part.
The Last of Us season 3 rumored forged
Big spoilers instantly comply with for The Last of Us season 2.
Based on how final season ended, listed below are the actors (and the characters they painting) I anticipate to see once more in The Last of Us season 3:
- Bella Ramsey as Ellie
- Gabriel Luna as Tommy
- Isabela Merced as Dina
- Young Mazino as Jesse
- Kaitlyn Dever as Abby
- Danny Ramirez as Manny
- Spencer Lord as Owen
- Tati Gabrielle as Nora
- Ariela Barer as Mel
- Rutina Wesley as Maria
- Jeffrey Wright as Isaac
- Catherine O’Hara as Gail
- Robert John Burke as Seth
You may be stunned to see Mazino, Lord, and Barer’s names amongst that contingent. After all, their characters – Jess, Owen, and Mel – died within the season 2 finale.
However, with season 3’s early episodes set to leap again in time (learn extra about this within the story part beneath), this trio will not have met their demise when the Max present’s third season premieres. The identical could be mentioned of Gabrielle’s Nora, who’ll nonetheless be alive throughout the interval to be revisited in season 3’s opening chapters.
Unless Joel equally returns in flashback sequences, we undoubtedly will not see Pedro Pascal once more. Joel met his finish in The Last of Us season 2 episode 2, and, whereas Pascal reprised his function in final season’s sixth episode, that entry depicted the 5 years between the tip of season 1 and the beginning of season 2. So, do not guess on the fan-favorite actor returning as Joel as soon as extra.
There’s additionally the potential for different shocking omissions. Speaking to Variety, O’Hara mentioned she’s been instructed her character, Gail, will not seem in season 3, as it isn’t more likely to spend a lot time in Jackson, Wyoming, aka the city the place Ellie and lots of the present’s characters stay. If Gail does not seem, different supporting characters, together with Seth and Maria, might not achieve this, both.
As for newcomers to the sequence, there are a few key characters in The Last of Us Part II who did not seem in season 2. I will not spoil who they’re, however given their significance to the story that’ll be instructed in season 3, you possibly can anticipate forged bulletins about this pair to be made in the end.
The Last of Us season 3 story hypothesis
Full spoilers instantly comply with for The Last of Us season 2 and The Last of Us Part II.
The Last of Us season 3 does not have a narrative synopsis but. However, primarily based on how its forebear ended – learn my article explaining The Last of Us season 2’s ending for extra on what occurred – and The Last of Us Part II‘s story, now we have a good suggestion of how issues will pan out.
As I point out in my ending explainer, season 3 will shift into reverse gear and head again in time 72 hours to the interval earlier than and through its predecessor’s finale. That’s as a result of season 2’s ultimate episode ends with a scene starring Abby, which takes place three days previous to her single-handedly storming the Seattle theater the place Ellie and firm are holed up within the seventh episode.
For those that have not performed The Last of Us Part II, Abby just isn’t solely the deuteragonist of that story, but additionally a player-controlled character for round half of the sport’s complete playtime. Events centered round Abby are integral to telling Part II‘s full story.
What does that imply for The Last of Us season 3? It’ll be Abby-centric, with its opening chapters probably displaying us what Abby was as much as earlier than Ellie and Dina arrive in Seattle, after which the place Abby is throughout this three-day interval.
Part II does this, so there is not any purpose to suspect HBO’s live-action retelling will not take the same storytelling strategy. That being, displaying Abby’s aspect of the Seattle-based story, which runs parallel to Ellie and Dina’s, earlier than season 2 episode 7’s surprising penultimate scene brings them collectively.
As for what Abby’s aspect of the story entails, I will not spoil something vital right here. But, contemplating there are numerous unanswered questions – to not point out narrative gaps that want filling in relating to Abby, her associates, the Seraphites, and the Washington Liberation Front – from season 2, its follow-up has some heavy lifting to do from a story standpoint.
Thankfully, it appears like there will be extra time to cowl all the above. Interviewed by Collider in May, co-showrunner and government producer Craig Mazin mentioned: “I feel there’s an honest likelihood that season 3 might be longer than season 2, simply because the way of that narrative and the alternatives it affords us are somewhat totally different.”
Of course, that might imply among the best Max exhibits’ third season solely has another entry (eight) than its predecessor did (seven). Some followers have been somewhat pissed off that season 2 was shorter than the present’s debut outing, so an installment with extra chapters ought to appease them. Season 2 included loads of brand-new materials that wasn’t seen within the video games, too, so season 3 could possibly be approached in the identical means and, by proxy, have the next episode rely.
Where can I watch The Last of Us’ first two seasons?
Depending on the place you reside, The Last of Us‘ first two seasons can be found to stream on totally different platforms.
In the US, you possibly can watch it on the cable community HBO in addition to Max, aka one of many world’s finest streaming companies. Those of you who aren’t subscribed to the streamer ought to learn our Max worth information to see how a lot it prices to enroll and our Max free trial article to study in case you can attempt it before you purchase.
Meanwhile, UK audiences can catch it on Sky Atlantic and Now TV. Australian viewers may tune into Max to look at each seasons, however in case you’re not signed as much as Warner Bros. Discovery’s tremendous streamer, you too can catch it on Foxtel.
Will The Last of Us finish with its third season?
It’s not been formally confirmed but, however The Last of Us season 3 is not anticipated to be the ultimate installment.
The Last of Us seasons 2 and three have been supposed to inform the complete story depicted in The Last of Us Part II. But, talking in February, HBO TV chief Francesca Orsi indicated that HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us might run for 4 seasons.
In the identical Collider article I linked to on this information’s plot part, Mazin additionally remarked that “there’s no option to full this narrative in a 3rd season. Hopefully, we’ll earn our preserve sufficient to come back again and end it in a fourth”. It appears like one other season could possibly be within the offing after the present’s third entry, then.
But how will Mazin and firm stretch out The Last of Us Part II‘s story throughout three seasons Initially, I suspected that, if The Last of Us Part II‘s story was wrapped up in season 3, a fourth and ultimate season may embrace plot parts that Naughty Dog might have been contemplating for The Last of Us Part III.
Right now, a 3rd entry in Naughty Dog’s extremely in style online game franchise hasn’t been introduced. Naughty Dog president Neil Druckmann has additionally mentioned followers should not “guess on there being extra” – i.e. the continuation of Ellie’s story in one other sport – anytime quickly.
Druckmann and his inside circle are the one ones who know if greater than a narrative idea was ever devised for Part III. Nonetheless, if a 3rd sport is not going to be made, there is not any purpose why its plot parts cannot be fleshed out and depicted in HBO’s TV adaptation as an alternative.
That mentioned, talking on episode 457 of the Sacred Symbols podcast, Druckmann indicated that, if a fourth season is greenlit, it will merely wrap up the story instructed in Part II. The potential inclusion of brand-new materials set throughout occasions of that sport (and, by proxy, its TV adaptation) apart, then, do not anticipate a doable fourth season to include post-Part II narrative beats.
For extra Max TV show-based protection, try our guides on House of the Dragon season 3, Peacemaker season 2, Creature Commandos season 2, and The White Lotus season 4.
