The Last of Us
If you were hoping we were going to start moving past lengthy gaps between seasons of high profile shows, think again. At least when it comes to The Last of Us, which is about to wrap up season 2 over the next few weeks, covering half of the second game.
That other half? Buckle up, it’s another long wait incoming.
Last of Us star Isabela Merced has said that filming is not expected to begin on season 3 until all the way in 2026, without a specific window of time given. But even assuming the best, say, January 2026, that’s going to be a problem. Here’s the data based on past seasons:
- The Last of Us season 1 began filming in July of 2021, and concluded in June 2022. The show was released in January of 2023.
- The Last of Us season 2 began filming in February 2024 and wrapped in August 2024, with a release in April of 2025.
So the gap between filming and airing in season 1 was 18 months. The gap between filming and airing the shorter season 2 was 14 months. That means the gap between the premiere of both seasons was two years and three months.
The Last of Us
However, if we’re now saying that filming doesn’t even begin until say, January 2026, and we can split the difference at a 16 month gap from filming to release, we’re talking May 2027, 2 years and one month. But being less generous and saying filming begins halfway through 2026, that’s two years seven months for around October 2027.
So no less than two years and probably inching closer to two and a half. One additional issue here is that unlike season 1 and 2, season 2 and 3 are covering two halves of a singular game, meaning the story will be interrupted more significantly than last time around. It will also be a more Abby-focused season given how the game did this, and given how little we’ve seen of Abby through four episodes so far.
Unfortunately, it’s not all that surprising that we’re getting a gap this long, but it never stops being exhausting. It’s also especially bad when it’s a single game/large season cut in half like we’re seeing here. I don’t expect this to change any time soon as this is 80% of all shows these days, even ones with far lower scope. It’s not a great era for timely viewing, unless you don’t watch for half a decade than
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
