The Last of Us TV series will not extend beyond the games

The Last of Us is soon set to make its grand return to HBO when its second season debuts on 13 April.

As I’m sure you’re well aware by now, season two will begin to adapt Naughty Dog’s 2020 game The Last of Us Part II; the key word here being ‘begin’.

The Last of Us Part II is expected to be adapted across several seasons.

How many exactly? Well, showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have been pretty clear that they’re not entirely sure at this moment in time.

What Mazin has just clarified though is that The Last of Us will not be pulling a Game of Thrones, extending its narrative beyond the source.

Game of Thrones eventually caught up with author George R.R. Martin’s source novels, with showrunners writing their own storylines for several seasons to see the series out.

Let’s face it, Martin isn’t the fastest writer so it was an inevitability.

Game of Thrones concluded in 2019 and The Winds of Winter book still isn’t out.

ICYMI: Take a look at The Last of Us’ season two trailer below.

In contrast though, The Last of Us will be sticking to the source material.

"I am not going to go past the game. I’ll just say that flat out. So if people are thinking, 'Oh, these guys are planning the old cash grab thing,' I'm basically setting a decade of my rapidly dwindling life on fire to tell this story. The show is so hard to make. It has to have an end. So I’m not going to go past,” Mazin told The Hollywood Reporter.

This raises interesting questions because it feels quite obvious to me that Naughty Dog is eventually planning on closing out the trilogy with The Last of Us Part III but, of course, the studio is busy with Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.

Game development cycles aren’t quick, which leaves us with two possibilities.

The first is that HBO’s The Last of Us ends after finishing up its adaptation of the second game which would be a shame if a third game ever arose further down the line.

The second possibility is that Part III is in development and is landing far sooner than any of us are anticipating.

Admittedly, I could see Part II stretching across another two seasons which buys Naughty Dog potentially around three to four years to get Part III out in the world.

It’s not out of the realm of possibility is what I’m saying so let’s keep those fingers crossed.