Two episodes in, and HBO‘s “The Last Of Us” is already a sensation. Of course, that’s no surprise for those familiar with the game series. But the numbers behind the show’s premiere are impressive: 4.7 million on its first night of availability and 18 million viewers after one week. That “The Last Of Us” HBO’s second-biggest debut since 2010 behind “House Of The Dragon.” In other words, expect the series to stick around HBO beyond this season.
While there’s no confirmation that “The Last Of Us” Season 2 will happen yet, Belle Ramsey, one of the show’s stars, teased earlier this week that it’s “likely.” But what does co-creator Craig Mazin have to say about the show’s future? During an interview for an upcoming episode of “The Playlist Podcast,” Mazin hinted at what viewers should expect in follow-up seasons, should they happen (which, c’mon, they will, but that still needs to be confirmed). In short, potential future seasons of “The Last Of Us” will follow the game’s story, but the show’s writers will continue to take liberties with the source material. And don’t expect a new season will fit the entire second game in its episodes: there’s too much story there for that.
“We pretty much cover the first game in this first season,” Mazin said on the podcast. “The remaining material is quite a bit more involved and rather extensive in comparison to the first game. There’s really no way to tell the story of the second game in one season. And when you look at how we adapted ‘The Last of Us’ in this season, you can already see where it’s not just the story that’s there, sometimes it’s these other stories we want to tell. We really want the freedom to do it right. The one thing I insist on is never boring people and never putting out filler episodes. They’ve got to stand on their own and be compelling – always! But I think that as we continue, the rest of it can’t be told in just one season.”
But even if “The Last Of Us” continues for another couple of seasons, don’t expect it to stay on HBO forever. Mazin and co-creator/writer Neil Druckmann have an endpoint in mind, and once they hit that, they’ll end the series. “That said, however long it takes to tell that story, that’s exactly as long as we will take and no more,” Mazin continued. “This is not something that goes on forever. It has an end and we write toward an end.”
Based on Naughty Dog‘s 2013 videogame of the same name, “The Last Of Us” is a post-apocalyptic drama set in a world ravaged by a mass fungal infection that turns its victims into cannibalistic monsters. The show follows Pedro Pascal‘s Joel, a smuggler who escorts a young girl, Ramsay’s Ellie, across the United States, as she may hold a cure to the global pandemic. “The Last Of Us” also stars Nico Parker, Gabriel Luna, Merle Dandridge, and Anna Torv. The show’s first season run nine episodes, ending on March 12.
So, while we wait to hear about more seasons of “The Last Of Us,” it’s clear what fans should expect from the show’s potential future. And since Mazin and Druckmann’s vision of Naughty Dog’s game is off to a great start in HBO, expect the network to give them as much creative rein as possible. The show’s third episode premieres this Sunday on HBO and HBO Max.