The Last of Us Season 2 is on the way but it won’t be last for the series, nor will it cover the entirety of the sequel it’s adapting. A new interview with Deadline reveals the season’s 7-episode count, the likelihood of a third and even fourth season, and how the showrunners plan on telling its story.

The Last of Us Part II is a long game. So much so that showrunners and directors Craig Mazin and Naughty Dog president Neil Druckmann realized it would need to tell its story across more than one season. 

“The story material that we got from Part II of the game is way more than the story material that was in the first game, so part of what we had to do from the start was figure out how to tell that story across seasons,” Mazin said. “When you do that, you look for natural breakpoints, and as we laid it out, this season, the national breakpoint felt like it came after seven episodes.”

Pedro Pascal as Joel in The Last of Us Season 2

Even though Season 2 will be shorter than Season 1, one of its episodes is said to be “quite big” in length. The showrunners also tease that a potential Season 3 will be much larger in scope. Despite this, Mazin doesn’t believe they can tell the whole story in two seasons because they want to take their time. “And indeed, the story may require Season 4,” he says.

HBO has not yet renewed The Last of Us for a third or fourth season, but Mazin believes it will happen, “as long as people keep watching.” 

For those worried that Season 2 would rush through Part II’s events, it seems you can relax. We’ll see where the story stops when The Last of Us Season 2 kicks off in 2025. To get a look at what the season has in store, you can take your first looks at Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey’s Joel and Ellie, and read about the castings for Dina, along with Manny, Mel, Owen, and Nora. Actor Jeffrey Wright was recently cast to reprise his role as Isaac.

[Source: Deadline]