HBO’s The Last of Us to split Part 2 into multiple seasons

Exactly how many is anyone's guess

As the curtain falls on the first season of HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us, many have been wondering how Part 2 of the celebrated video game series will be presented in the next season. Will they try to fit all of Part 2 into a single nine-episode season? Will they adapt the entire game over a longer season? Or will they split it up into more than one season? Well, now we know.

In an interview with GQ Magazine, the creators of the show, Craig Mazin and Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann, shed light on the show’s second (and maybe third or fourth) season, giving us a clear answer as to what happens next. The answer? Part 2 will be split up into multiple seasons.

That’s not a bad thing by any means — as we mentioned in our review of HBO’s The Last of Us, this is the first video game adaptation that can stand on its own, a fantastic adaptation that knows when to stay the same and when to shake things up. There’s no doubt that future seasons will walk a similar path.

When asked if the second season will tell the story of the entirety of PS4 and PS5 game The Last of Us Part 2, Mazin reportedly shook his head, saying there was “no way” it would happen. Druckmann followed up, saying it would be more than one season, but the two refused to budge on how many seasons it would be.

“You have noted correctly that we will not say how many [seasons],” Mazin said, “But more than one is factually correct”.

Druckmann expanded on the reason for the lengthening, saying that some of the most exciting parts of moving forward are the possible changes to be made to the story. Mazin notes episode 3 of the first season, Long, Long Time, as one of the big changes made in the show compared to the game, and one that elicited strong reactions from a lot of viewers.

“There’s been a lot written about the third episode of this season, and it’s an episode we’re very proud of, and it moved a lot of people,” Mazin said, “It’s one of the lower-rated shows on IMDb for one reason – a lot of people came on and gave it a 1/10. Not 5/10. One. The median score on that episode is 10. And the mean is an 8 or something”.

He continued: “That’s because there are incredibly strong opinions one way or the other. But I would much rather have a show that lives off of 10s and 1s, than a show that lives off of 5s”.

As for Druckmann, he sees the changes as a way to expand on the themes and emotions present in the game, rather than a way to replace them.

“Some of the stuff I’m most excited for [in Part 2] are the changes we’ve discussed and seeing the story come to life again in this other version,” he said, “And I think it’s exciting because it leans into those feeling you had from the game, really heavily, in a new way”.

Unfortunately, viewers will be waiting a long time to see what those changes are. The duo say the next season won’t be for at least a couple of years yet. Given we waited seven years between the original release of The Last of Us and its sequel, two years should be just fine.