The Last of Us season 3: Release date speculation and latest news

*Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Last of Us season 2.*

There are some serious changes afoot in the behind-the-scenes team of The Last of Us for season 3 as co-creator Neil Druckmann and co-writer Halley Gross have now officially stepped back from the series.

The news was announced a few months ago, with many fans wondering just what direction the series will take now that Naughty Dog studio head returns to his day job and is working on their next major release, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.

Speaking to Variety about his decision to step away as co-showrunner, Druckmann said: "It was quite challenging to be as involved as a co-showrunner on Season 1 and Season 2, while running a studio and working and directing and writing a game."

Series star Bella Ramsey spoke about Druckmann's departure on Variety's Awards Circuit podcast, saying: “The world of The Last of Us is his creation, and so his voice and creative input. It doesn’t just go away in season 3 because he’s not as actively involved. It will always be his creation. And we’re always in everything that we do, honoring the game and Neil’s creation. He’ll definitely be missed on set. But his spirit is the story.”

We do know that Ramsey is set to take much more a backseat in the third season though, as it's been confirmed that season 3 will focus on Kaitlyn Dever's Abby.

The dramatic finale did end with the focus shifting from Ellie (Bella Ramsey) 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.

But when will The Last of Us season 3 be released? Read on to find out everything we know 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.

However, HBO and Max content chairman and CEO Casey Bloys has said that they still have their sights set on a 2027 release.

He told Variety: "The series is definitely planned for 2027. Craig [Mazin] is still working it out whether it will be two more seasons or one more long season. It hasn’t been decided yet, and I’m following Craig’s lead on that."

Filming is obviously yet to kick off, and series star Isabella Merced already previously 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".

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 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? It certainly seems so as when asked about the pacing and episode count for season 3, Mazin revealed to The Hollywood Reporter: "We’re kind of fiddling around with that — it’s a little bit of a trade secret at the moment. But I will say that season three will be longer than season two. Season 3 will be more on par with season 1. More bang for the buck."

Mazin previously explained his thought process around the episode counts, 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 confirmed as being about Abby, Kaitlyn Dever will be taking on a lead role in the upcoming instalment.

Introduced in season 2 as Ellie's antagonist and Joel's murderer, there's certainly plenty more of the story to flesh out from the original games and from her perspective.

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.

When pressed on how much of Ellie we'll be seeing in season 3, Ramsey told Variety: “I sort of know, but I can’t tell you, I’m afraid."

Meanwhile, there were three major deaths in the finale – Young Mazino's Jesse (killed by Abby), Spencer Lord's Owen and Ariela Barer's Mel (both killed by Ellie). This is in addition to Tati Gabrielle's Nora, who died in the previous episode.

However, due to the nature of the narrative jumping back in time to follow Abby, and armed with the knowledge of what happens in the game, we'd definitely expect the characters to return for season 3.

Barer has already confirmed she'll be back, telling Collider: "I'm so excited to keep working with the WLF crew and Jeffrey Wright, who I've not worked with yet, but have met. He's awesome.

"There are little secrets that Craig has planted that I'm very excited to watch be extended. I won’t elaborate more."

However, Catherine O'Hara has 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 – barring any unexpected flashbacks.

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."

The cast we'd expect to return for The Last of Us season 3 are as follows:

• Kaitlyn Dever as Abby
• Bella Ramsey as Ellie
• Isabela Merced as Dina
• Gabriel Luna as Tommy
• Danny Ramirez as Manny
• Young Mazino as Jesse
• Tati Gabrielle as Nora
• Ariela Barer as Mel
• Spencer Lord as Owen
• Jeffrey Wright as Isaac
• Alanna Ubach as Hanrahan

What will The Last of Us season 3 be about?

In an interview with Variety, Catherine O'Hara was the first to directly confirm that season 3 is "the Abby story", with the show's co-showrunners since having also confirmed the season 3 focus.

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 cliffhanger-y 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.

As for whether we'll continue to see how Ellie's story plays out alongside all of this, it remains to seen how much of it we'll see, 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.

Is there a trailer for The Last of Us season 3?

Not yet! Seeing as production on season 3 hasn't yet kicked off, there's no trailer right now. Watch this space, though.

The Last of Us season 2 is streaming on Sky Atlantic and NOW with an Entertainment Membership.

Check out more of our Sci-fi coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on this week. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.