Seven is the not-so-lucky number for The Last of Us fans patiently awaiting a new season.
Co-creators and showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann revealed to Deadline that season two of the HBO series will be reduced to seven episodes, although they will be ‘quite big’ in length.
‘We just want to put people’s minds at ease that the idea that this season coming up is a little bit shorter than the first one is not because we’re taking less time to tell the stories, it’s because we want to take more time,’ said Mazin.
‘The story that we’re telling is much bigger than the story of Season 1, there’s just a lot more going on, it’s a lot harder to produce but we want every episode to feel like its own blockbuster to be honest with you,’ he added.
The first season of The Last of Us debuted in January 2023, based on the post-apocalyptic video game franchise of the same name.
The Last of Us co-creators revealed that season two of the HBO series will be reduced to seven episodes, although they will be ‘quite big’ in length
‘We just want to put people’s minds at ease that the idea that this season coming up is a little bit shorter than the first one is not because we’re taking less time to tell the stories, it’s because we want to take more time,’ said Craig Mazin
‘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 in the interview.
‘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,’ he explained.
Meanwhile, the duo plans to continue the story of the two-part video game with third and fourth seasons if they land a renewal from HBO.
‘We don’t think that we’re going to be able to tell the story even within two seasons [2 and 3] because we’re taking our time and go down interesting pathways which we did a little bit in Season 1 too,’ noted Mazin.
He continued, ‘We feel like it’s almost assuredly going to be the case that — as long as people keep watching and we can keep making more television — Season 3 will be significantly larger. And indeed, the story may require Season 4.’
HBO shared a first look at season two last month after the Emmy-nominated first season featured nine episodes, despite originally planning for 10.
The Last of Us stars Pedro Pascal as Joel, a hardened smuggler tasked with safely transporting 14-year-old Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across a dangerous country, 20 years into a zombie apocalypse caused by a fungal outbreak.
Mazin previously laid out their multi-season plans for the show in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter last year.
‘You never know. It can end up being three or five,’ he said. ‘But four seems like a good number.
Meanwhile, the duo plans to continue the story of the two-part video game with third and fourth seasons if they land a renewal from HBO
HBO shared a first look at season two last month after the Emmy-nominated first season featured nine episodes, despite originally planning for 10
The Last of Us stars Pedro Pascal as Joel, a hardened smuggler tasked with safely transporting 14-year-old Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across a dangerous country, 20 years into a zombie apocalypse caused by a fungal outbreak
‘Some seasons, because of the story we’re telling, will need fewer episodes and some will need more. The best news is the audience wants more,’ explained Mazin.
He stressed that they ‘will not indulge a desire for more’ episodes to make fans ‘happier when they hear how many episodes are announced.’
‘And if they don’t like how many episodes are in a season because they want more, well, OK,’ said Mazin. ‘But when all is said and done, I think the wisdom of how we lay it out will hopefully be clear.’
Season two of The Last of Us is scheduled to premiere on HBO in 2025.
