HBO will take a “big swing” on The Last of Us season 2

Speaking to Deadline, HBO executive Francesca Orsi talked all about the current state of HBO and its programs, which include some very heavy hitters of late. Succession ends this weekend. Euphoria is going strong. House of the Dragon and The White Lotus have proven to be big hits, and the the first season of zombie drama The Last of Us was a smash when it aired early this year, quickly distinguishing itself as the best video game adaptation of all time.

HBO might not be the first place you’d think would air a zombie show, but Orsi said that showrunner Craig Mazin — who created the show alongside Neil Druckmann, the guy behind The Last of Us video games — didn’t sell it like that. “While there’s a big entertainment factor that’s tied to the zombie nature of the show and its story, he really focused on the sort of love story, the relationship between Pedro Pascal’s character and Bella Ramsay’s character, Joel and Ellie, and exploring family and the ways in which the surrogate daughter that Ellie becomes to Joel in light of the tragic death of his biological daughter, is what I think grabbed us most,” Orsi said. “And it was the profound, deeper exploration of love and family that he was after that had us all leaning in.”

The show proved a great investment, and all of us are waiting impatiently for season 2, which will adapt the much-talked-about second game in the series. “[T]here will be a couple of new pieces of casting, which I can’t get into. And of course, there isn’t much that we can go into on The Last of Us, given that Craig can’t really initiate in any meaningful way from a writing or casting standpoint. But he and Neil have a good sense of what it is that he’s going to be taking on,” Orsi said. “All I can say is he’s taking a big swing from both an entertainment standpoint, related to the clickers, but also just the more nuanced, complex character dynamic between our characters, Joel, Ellie and beyond.”

The writers strike may push back The Last of Us season 2

Orsi mentioned that Craig can’t really start writing the second season in a meaningful way. That’s because he alongside with every other member of the Writers Guild of America is currently on strike, holding out for better pay, increased job security, limits on the use of AI, and more.

The strike started at the beginning of this month and there’s no end in sight, although Orsi is hoping for the best. “While everything at this moment is pencils down, I’m hopeful that we can come to terms sooner than later,” she said. “Otherwise we will have to assess what is the end of the 24 schedule, what are the shows that are going to be delivered for 2025. At this point, those shows that I’m looking to air wouldn’t necessarily be ready if this strike last six to nine months. So yes, that’s a big question for us, but I think we’ll cross that road once we come to it.”

"We were looking at The Last Of Us for some time in 2025. And The White Lotus was ideally looking to go in 2024 but there’s some question about timing of the strike."

So there you have it: HBO was planning to release The Last of Us season 2 in 2025, but unless the studios agree to treat their writers fairly in the near future, that could get pushed back. So get on it, studio people!

The Last of Us has a plan for season 3

Looking further into the future, Orsi talked about how many seasons The Last of Us may last overall:

"I think Craig and Neil are still figuring out where they’re going to come to an end. We have loosely heard that there will be a Season 3 idea for the series, but at this point, we’re taking it one season at a time. There’s no guarantee at this point that we’ll have a Season 3 but I know that they both have a vision for Season 3. Whether that lends itself to doing more [seasons], I don’t know yet."

Mazin and Druckmann have indeed talked about adapting the second game over the course of two seasons, and who knows if Druckmann and his team at Naughty Dog might someday produce The Last of Us, Part III? For now, we’ll settle to a fair end to the writers strike and season 2 of the show.

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