Season two of The Last of Us came and went earlier this year, and we already know its third season is on the horizon. Whereas the first two seasons were a team effort between showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann and writer Hailey Gross, this next season will have Mazin as sole showrunner and writer—Druckmann, who also runs game developer Naughty Dog, is devoting his time to the studio’s next project, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.
In a recent interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Mazin discussed his writing process, which he said won’t change now that his co-writers have exited the show. According to him, not much is going to change, since Druckmann’s “always had a full-time job running Naughty Dog, so it’s always been me up in Canada [where the production is].” Before Druckmann and Gross left, Mazin got “so much” out of them while working on the first two seasons, and they’d already been thinking about the future while working on the second season.
“We really did get that work in. You can’t really tell half that story without thinking about what the whole story could be,” Mazin continued, referencing adapting only half of The Last of Us Part II. When the show returns, audiences will see things from Abby’s (Kaitlyn Dever) point of view before, during, and after the previous season. If you thought season was too short at seven episodes, the third may have more. Mazin told THR he and HBO are “currently fiddling around” with the specifics, but he’s looking at making this next season “more on par” with the first’s nine episodes to provide “more bang for the buck.”
Mazin didn’t just create and write the show, he’s also directed the first episode of each season. He revealed directing the premieres can be easy and allow for a full season prep, and now that that he’s sole showrunner, it’s on him to ensure “everything is fitting together tonally. We have directors alternating, and I’m on set doing—I don’t know what you’d call it—’showrunner QC’ sounds insulting to our directors, who are amazing.” He’s open to helming more than the premiere next season, but admitted it would be “hard to go prep something while I’m also still writing. We’ll see if I can get away with directing more than one [episode].”
The Last of Us is set to return for season three in 2027, so we’ve got time before we know how many episodes it’ll have, what it’ll change or update for Abby’s side of the story, and how much longer it’ll go on.
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