*Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Last of Us season 2.*
The Last of Us season 2 has drawn to an end, concluding on a whopping cliffhanger that has set the stage for the already confirmed third season.
The dramatic finale ended with the focus shifting to Abby as she was roused from sleeping by Manny, with a Seattle Day One title card appearing on screen – revealing that we will be following Abby's journey in season 3, as is the case part way through the second game.
For fans wondering whether Bella Ramsey, who plays Ellie in the series, will be making a return in the next chapter, the actor recently set the record straight.
Speaking to Variety, Ramsey explained: "I think that I’m going to be there, but not a whole bunch. We’ve had conversations about that."
They went on to say that they expect their screen time will be reduced so that the story can focus on Abby, adding: "I sort of have a rough idea of what it’s going to be, but I can’t tell you."
Craig Mazin and his co-showrunner Neil Druckmann have been clear about their vision for The Last of Us to consist of four seasons, with Mazin also teasing to Collider that "there’s a decent chance that season 3 will be longer than season 2".
But for now, read on for everything we know about The Last of Us season 3 so far.
The Last of Us season 3 release date speculation
A release date for The Last of Us season 3 has not yet been confirmed.
For fans who are desperate for the next chapter, unfortunately it doesn't look like it will be arriving anytime soon.
Of course, there was quite the lengthy gap between seasons 1 and 2, with season 1 being released in January 2023 and season 2 following all the way in April 2025.
That said, season 2 was impacted by the writers' and actors' strikes, so the wait between seasons 2 and 3 could be shorter, but we'll just have to wait and see.
Filming is yet to kick off, and series star Isabella Merced has already admitted in an interview with Variety that she doesn't know when production on season 3 is due to start, but thinks "it should be next year".
If season 3 production were to kick off in 2026, we could potentially be looking at a release date of early 2027.
How many episodes will there be in The Last of Us season 3?
As of now, an episode count for season 3 has not yet been revealed. However, co-creator Craig Mazin has said that the third season will likely be longer in length than season 2.
Season 1 consisted of nine episodes and so fans were surprised with season 2's 7-episode run. Could we be going back up to 9 or even more? As of now, nothing else has been revealed, but Mazin did explain the thought process, telling Collider: "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 season 3 cast: Who will return?
Seeing as the third season of The Last of Us has already been teased as being about Abby, we'd expect Kaitlyn Dever to take on a lead role in the upcoming instalment. Introduced in season 2 as Ellie's antagonist in the wake of Joel's tragic death, there's certainly plenty more of the story to flesh out from the original games.
It's not all that surprising that we're set to go on a narrative shift, seeing as The Last of Us II game does the same thing once you reach a certain point in Ellie's story.
At one point it seemed as though we might not see Ellie at all in season 3, but Mazin has now confirmed we haven't seen the last of her, and it now seems as though we will see Ellie and Dina, just in a diminished role.
We don't expect to see any more of Tati Gabrielle's Nora, who Ellie killed in season 2 episode 6. Catherine O'Hara also confirmed that Mazin already told her she won't be in season 3 and of course, neither will Joe Pantoliano, who starred as her on-screen husband Eugene.
Meanwhile, there were three major death in the finale, with none of those characters now expected to return. Those who died were Young Mazino's Jesse, killed by Abby, Spencer Lord's Owen and Ariela Barer's Mel, both killed by Ellie.
We also wouldn't have expected to see more of Pedro Pascal's Joel, but Mazin hasn't ruled out an appearance.
He told TVLine: "All I can say is we haven’t seen the last of Kaitlyn Dever, and we haven’t seen the last of Bella Ramsey, and we haven’t seen the last of Isabela Merced, and we haven’t seen the last of a lot of people who are currently dead in the story. So I guess the short answer to that question that everyone is asking is: No, I’m not answering."
Druckmann added: "I’ll give a bit more, which is: Whether you will see them on screen or not, their presence will be there throughout."
What will The Last of Us season 3 be about?
In an interview with Variety, Catherine O'Hara confirmed that season 3 is "the Abby story" so we can anticipate a greater exploration of Abby's life and backstory. As for whether we'll continue to see how Ellie's story plays out alongside that, it remains to seen but we would assume the show will continue to explore Ellie's life in the wake of Joel's death and her relationship with Dina.
Meanwhile, speaking to The Hollywood Reporter of this narrative shift, co-showrunner Craig Mazin recently said: "I don’t think television is supposed to work like this. We’re clearly breaking quite a few rules, and I love that. And I love it because that is the point.
"This is not something we’re doing as a gimmick. The point of this story — and this is looked at from so many different angles in so many different ways — is that the entire concept of protagonist is flawed. The entire concept of villain is flawed. Our way of processing the world through heroes and villains is a mistake.
"It ends up creating these barriers between people that shouldn’t be there. It ends up giving ourselves justifications and conveniences for bad behaviour, and it ends up allowing us to judge others summarily for things that we don’t quite understand the motivation behind it. We know this is a challenging thing to keep track of emotionally.
"We understand people are going to be provoked. But part of this story is about examining why we’re so comfortable with following one person’s point of view about everything."
Mazin has also said that piecing together the story for season 3 feels much like a puzzle, telling Collider: "It’s never easy. We’re now confronting all the same challenges for Season 3. They’re fun challenges .... But all those decisions get made before I start writing.
"We have a master plan and we understand how everything works. That way, when you see things happening in this episode, you understand they’re connected back to the very first episode. It's a holistic thing."
As for the way that things end in season 2, it was all intentional to set up season 3, according to Mazin. He revealed: "Now, we’re actually in more of a traditional cliffhangery mode, where you’re telling a story, and then you end the season with something that says, 'Whoa, this is going to change a whole bunch of things, and we’ll see you when we get back and pick it up from there.'
"We ask ourselves a lot of questions and we think about what we ought to do when we think about what the narrative that exists affords us and that we should do. I’m always thinking about, what are the things that only The Last of Us does? Let’s do those as much as we can.
"And then, you go for it and you make your decisions and mostly just try as best as you can to think about the audience experience and how they’re going to feel when they arrive at the end of something. Hopefully, we set them up to want to return when we come back for the next run."
Mazin also teased that more "information will be coming" about the Washington Liberation Front (WLF) and the Seraphites, both of whom are introduced and seen throughout season 2 but do lack a bit of context. "No, you haven’t gotten all the information you deserve. Yes, the information will be coming. We did this all by design," Mazin says.
For fans of the game, they will already know that The Last of Us Part II follows both Ellie and Abby as Ellie continues on in her quest for revenge. But also, Abby gets drawn into conflict between between the WLF and the Seraphites, so it's safe to say that it certainly won't be the last we see of either group.
Mazin told Deadline of the end of season 2: "What I want the audience to feel thematically at the end of the season is that they aren’t where they were, but they’re not yet where they are going to go. That there has always been a story that we’ve been telling about the good and bad of love, but we switch which side is good and bad sometimes…
"We understand that both Ellie and Abby are moving forward in trouble. They are in moral trouble, because their certainty is beginning to fail them, and we can see it here with Ellie, for sure, because faced with the consequences of the things she’s done and the people that didn’t deserve to die, she’s starting to feel maybe a swing of the pendulum.
"We don’t know where these two are going to end, but what I would hope the audience feels is that they are not done. They are not done growing, or they are not done falling. We’ll have to wait and see which it is.”
