‘The Last Of Us’ fans aren’t happy TV show will need a fourth season: “They’re just dragging it out now”

The creators of HBO’s The Last Of Us have confirmed the show will need a fourth season – and gaming fans aren’t happy.

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The first season of The Last Of Us retold the story of the original 2013 video game. The second season has started to adapt 2020’s The Last Of Us Part 2 but with just one episode left, definitely won’t wrap the story up.

Earlier this year, HBO’s drama chief Francesca Orci said there were no firm plans for the future of the show, but there had been conversations about The Last Of Us running for four seasons. Showrunner Craig Mazin has previously said the show could run anywhere between three and five seasons “but four seems like a good number”.

Now Mazin has said there’s “no way to complete this narrative” in just one more season. “Hopefully, we’ll earn our keep enough to come back and finish it in a fourth. That’s the most likely outcome,” he added in an interview with Collider.

While some fans are happy there’s going to be more of The Last Of Us, others are worried about a lack of source material to adapt. The recently aired ‘The Price’ episode ends with Ellie heading towards a theatre, which is the halfway point of The Last Of Us Part 2. The HBO show got there in just six episodes. At the same time, Mazin has said there’s a “decent chance” season three will be longer than season two’s seven episode run.

“This would be great news if they didn’t just blast through half the Part 2 story in 7 episodes,” one fan wrote. “Why rush the pacing then commit to extending the show to 4 seasons. Doesn’t seem well planned,” added another. “There’s literally just not enough story left to move to a fourth season,” said a third.

it wouldn’t need 2 extra seasons to tell a story if they stopped doing 8 episode seasons and only skipping to key points of the story instead actually focusing on the ENTIRE story and build up https://t.co/VVVPfailij

— ﾒ𝟶 (@lynndenlons) May 19, 2025

There are also concerns about how long fans will be waiting for The Last Of Us’ final season. Earlier this month, Isabela Merced (Dina) said filming on season three isn’t expected to begin until 2026 (via Forbes), meaning season three won’t be released until 2027.

“This is kind of disappointing to me. I’d rather have season 3 just be a longer season, I don’t want to have one game spread across 6 years. We already had to wait 2 years for this season, 2 for next season, and likely 2 more for season 4,” one fan wrote on Reddit. “I gotta be honest, I think dragging out a single video game story to 3 seasons in a 6 year span is so lame,” added another. “How do you flop something in which you have perfect source material to draw from,” said a third.

More optimistic fans are hoping the extra season means The Last Of Us developers will have time to release the rumoured Part 3 video game, which will then also get adapted into the TV show. Earlier this year, Mazin said the show would not “go past the game” and had to have an “end point” to avoid it becoming a “cash grab”.

Throughout the airing of season two, The Last Of Us fans have been complaining that gamers have been “ruining” the show for them with their negativity over changes between the two versions of the story.

In other news, fans of The Witcher have taken to social media to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

The post ‘The Last Of Us’ fans aren’t happy TV show will need a fourth season: “They’re just dragging it out now” appeared first on NME.