Major spoilers ahead for The Last of Us season 2
One of the most popular shows currently airing at the moment is the post-apocalyptic HBO drama The Last of Us, based on the incredibly popular and award-winning video games developed by Naughty Dog. Because there are only two official games (along with some DLC), many of us anticipated the show lasting two seasons, maybe three, and creators Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin have previously said that is the plan. But now Mazin has changed his tune and thinks it would be near impossible to complete the show in just three seasons.
Chatting with Collider, Mazin said "there's no way to complete this narrative in a third season." And the primary reason for that is due to the magnitude of Joel's death. The show covered the actual event in the second episode of season 2, featuring a tragic send-off for Pedro Pascal's version of the beloved character. Though Joel has continued to appear a few times throughout the seaon via flashbacks, his death was a violent and tragic end to a complicated character, and one that game fans have been dreading since the series was first announced.
But since Joel was one of the main characters of the show alongside Bella Ramsey's Ellie, it's not easy to just kill him off and then move on with the story. His death is perhaps the most pivotal and important moment in the entire series and speaks to the overall themes of the show involving vengeance and redemption.
As Mazin puts it, when you make a big story shift like that, it's hard to shuffle off and do a side story like they did in season 1 with Bill and Frank. It would pull too much focus away and alter the pacing too significantly. That said, he thinks the third season will have a little more breathing room, allowing the writers to add in smaller stories and one-off episodes like that one.
"Hopefully, we’ll earn our keep enough to come back and finish it in a fourth. That’s the most likely outcome."
Along those lines, Mazin also says that he believes season 3 will end up being longer than season 2, which is only seven episodes and will wrap on Sunday, May 25. It makes sense to have a shorter and tighter season because, again, the tension is very high this season as Ellie seeks revenge on Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) and anyone else who was involved in Joel's death. Mazin says they're following the story's "natural perforations" and momentum to figure out where to break things into seasons or episodes.
Season 3 will reportedly focus mostly on Abby and her story
It'll be interesting to see how fans feel about the third season. Abby was an extremely divisive character in the games and she has proven to be equally as divisive on the show, with fans torn on how they feel about her and Dever's overall portrayal.
Those who don't like Abby at all or the direction the story takes with her introduction might not like hearing what we've learned about season 3. According to a new Variety interview with Catherine O'Hara, who played the therapist Gail in season 2, the third season is "the Abby story."
Asked if she would return for future seasons, O'Hara said she doubted she would be back for season 3 because of the focus on Abby and her believing her character was really a device to serve the Joel and Ellie storylines. As Gail is a show-only character, her use in the story is slightly more limited.