The Last of Us Will End After 4 Seasons, HBO Expects

The Last of Us TV show may only have a couple more seasons left in the tank before it concludes its story. The Last of Us is one of the most beloved video games ever made and a lot of that is thanks to its emotionally-charged story and beautifully written characters. The first game was showered in praise for its heart wrenching story of a father who lost his daughter at the beginning of a zombie-esque apocalypse and is forced to take a young girl across the country. As he begins to forge a relationship with her, she essentially becomes his surrogate child. However, he learns that she may posses a cure for the infection plaguing the world, but it would cost her life and it’s a price he’s unwilling to pay.

The ending of The Last of Us has sparked all kinds of discussions among fans for over a decade and the beloved TV series did the same thing as well. The Last of Us TV series was met with acclaim for faithfully adapting the game’s rich story, likely partially thanks to the fact it was written and produced by game creator Neil Druckmann. Now, all eyes are on the creative team for The Last of Us season 2. The second season will adapt the highly controversial game sequel, The Last of Us Part 2. While we won’t get into why it’s controversial here, fans will likely discover why that is early on and it’s going to cause intense discourse.

With that said, there are currently only two games in the series. The second game is quite dense and it’s expected that The Last of Us TV series will adapt it across multiple seasons. The second game is already split into two distinct halves plus a lengthy epilogue, so this is probably the correct decision to make so everything has a chance to breathe. With that said, it sounds like HBO already has an idea of when The Last of Us will end going into its second season.

The Last of Us Will Likely End With Season 4

Ahead of The Last of Us season 2’s April premiere, HBO EVP Francesca Orsi told Deadline that the network is expecting to do three more seasons of the show, ending it at season 4. This isn’t set in stone and it seems like HBO is willing to do more if needed, but as of right now, Orsi notes it’s looking like it will be a four season TV series.

“We don’t have a complete or final plan, but I think it’s looking like four seasons. I wouldn’t want to confirm that, but it’s looking like this season and then two more seasons after this and we’re done.”

Neil Druckmann has already confirmed The Last of Us Part 3 is in the works. However, it’s seemingly in the very early stages. Naughty Dog’s next game, Intergalactic, was just announced at The Game Awards in December. The team has been working on it since 2020 and the studio also canceled an online version of The Last of Us in 2023. With that said, it seems unlikely anyone has been working on The Last of Us Part 3 in any meaningful way in recent years. So, that means a third game is unlikely to be ready by the time HBO reaches the end of The Last of Us season 4.

Showrunner Craig Mazin has noted they don’t want to go beyond the games, so it’s hard to imagine they try to make up their own ending. After all, HBO already learned the hard way that’s not always a smart idea when it ended Game of Thrones. Of course, Druckmann is an instrumental piece of the show, so he could in theory tell the story of the third game in the TV series before the game is ready… but that would spoil the game. So, it’s pretty unlikely that would happen. As of right now, we’ll just have to see where HBO decides to take The Last of Us in its future seasons.