The Last of Us Will Continue After the HBO Show’s Third Season

Sep 04, 2026 - 19:05

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The Last of Us Will Continue After the HBO Show’s Third Season

Published Sep 4, 2026, 9:55 AM EDT

Neil Druckmann teases that Naughty Dog isn't done with The Last of Us

Joel and Ellie look at each other and smile while standing at the edge of an ivy-covered balcony in HBO’s The Last of Us

With HBO's The Last of Us adaptation set to conclude in 2027 and Naughty Dog hard at work on its next game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, the future of The Last of Us is uncertain. Series co-creator Neil Druckmann has offered a glimmer of hope in a new interview, saying that Naughty Dog isn't done with the beloved post-apocalyptic series just yet.

"Naughty Dog is still the steward of this IP," Druckmann told The Washington Post, "and even though this might be the end of this adaptation, we're not done with The Last of Us." This is the closest thing we've gotten to an official update on the series since Naughty Dog canceled The Last of Us Online at the end of 2023 after years of troubled development. Druckmann further teased that there are multiple projects in the works that Naughty Dog will share more information "when the time is right." This likely means we'll hear more after Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet is released.

As for the HBO show's final season, Druckmann distanced himself from the adaptation. "I wasn't involved in shaping this season's creative direction," he said, "Naughty Dog did not have a creative role in the direction of the season. So I can't personally speak to how production is progressing." We know season 3 is slated for release next year, and that it will focus on Abby's story from the second game.

What could The Last of Us Part 3 be about?

Ellie ugly cries covered in blood in The Last of Us Part 2

Druckmann didn't give any details on what the next game in the series would be, but The Last of Us Part 2's conclusion offers up some possibilities. There is still room for Ellie's story to continue. If we think of Ellie's arc in the terms established by traditional Greek tragedy, she still needs to go through the third act. The last game left her at perhaps the lowest point in her life, so a sequel that allows Ellie to achieve something resembling a happy ending could be nice (as rare as that might be in the world of The Last of Us). Alternatively, a third game could leave Ellie behind entirely and continue Abby and Lev's search for the Fireflies.

Of course, the next game might not even be The Last of Us Part 3. The series' world has so much potential for self-contained stories that Naughty Dog may want to start fresh with a new set of characters. The canceled multiplayer game seemed to take the series to the previously unexplored area of San Francisco, so the studio has already experimented with telling original stories in the universe. Given the polarizing reaction to The Last of Us Part 2, this could end up being the best choice.