The Last of Us will stop in 2027 exactly where the games stop - the Game of Thrones mistake HBO is not repeating
Casey Bloys has confirmed The Last of Us Season 3 is happening — and it’s swerving the Game of Thrones misstep you’re dreading.
So, The Last of Us on HBO is officially getting a third season, and if you care about good storytelling (and who doesn’t, really?) that’s probably a relief. There’s an end in sight, and if you remember the train wreck that was Game of Thrones’ final stretch, you’ll know why this matters. HBO’s own top brass have more or less said as much, and for once, I fully agree with the decision.
The Last of Us will return for a third season in 2027 – it’s currently planned as the final run.
Casey Bloys, who runs things at HBO and Max Content, recently confirmed in an interview that Season 3 is happening in 2027. He kept it vague, as you’d expect, but said showrunner Craig Mazin is planning for it to be the last. Smart move, honestly. If you overstay your welcome, you get the Game of Thrones effect; nobody wants that.
Why Three Seasons Is Enough
This is all about sticking to the material. Game of Thrones started strong because it had George R.R. Martin’s books as a guide. But by Season 5, the show had outpaced his writing. Benioff and Weiss dumped the source material and started winging it. You could feel the difference, and by Season 7 Martin wasn’t involved at all. The last season crammed everything into a short run and viewers hated it—just look at the reviews, or if you can stomach it, revisit the finale. It’s a textbook example of how to destroy years of goodwill in a matter of episodes.
The Last of Us is facing something similar, but here’s where they avoid the trap. Mazin has two games from Naughty Dog to work with, and Season 3 will bring them up to date with everything that exists in the The Last of Us story so far—no padding, no filler. If HBO dragged it out beyond the games, we’d be into new, untested territory. And yes, Mazin knows his way around a script, but you only need to look at what happened with Thrones to know why that’s a bad idea.
Season 3 covers the second half of the second game – going any further would mean inventing new stories with no Naughty Dog blueprint guiding the way.
There’s another wrinkle: Neil Druckmann from Naughty Dog, who co-created the story for the games, isn’t involved in the show from here on out. The blend of Druckmann’s game-world knowledge and Mazin’s TV skills is one reason the first two seasons have landed so well. Now Mazin’s flying solo for Season 3. He might just stick the landing, but there’s zero reason to gamble after that.
- Season 3 set for 2027
- Planned as the final season by Mazin
- Covers the end of the source material; anything after would be uncharted fanfic
- Druckmann stepping back, leaving Mazin to handle the rest alone