There's A Lot Of Talk About The Last Of Us And A Possible 4th Season, And Loud Alarm Bells Are Going Off In My Brain

Ugh…I hate criticizing things.

I know I’m literally a movie and TV journalist; it’s kind of my job to do that. However, there are specific shows that make me hate when I have negative thoughts, and one of those is certainly HBO’s adaptation of The Last of Us.

I’ve written about this show ad nauseam. Like, way too much. But hey, that’s what happens when you believe this is one of the best video game adaptations ever. Recent comments, however, are sounding off alarm bells in my head, and I have to admit, I am very concerned about the state of the future seasons with the possibility of a fourth. Let’s get into it.

I Know That The Creator Said There Would Be A Different Ending

First off, let me say that before I get into why I’m nervous about this, I want to point out that I have heard Neil Druckmann’s comments about the ending to the TV show changing from the game. He said as much in an interview with Variety in May 2025. Honestly, I’m okay with that.

I have been one of the biggest supporters of The Last of Us's changes. From Bill and Frank’s love story in Season 1 to the inclusion of Jackson as a bigger impact on the story in Season 2, all the way to how they are handling Ellie and Dina’s relationship—mostly everything has worked for me.

While there have been some misses for me – I still don’t like how Jesse was reintroduced to the narrative – it’s mainly been good. So I’m all for an ending change. I like the Part 2 ending of the games, but if Druckmann thinks there can be something even better, I’m okay with it.

But I’m Not Too Sure About There Being A Fourth Season

However, I really don’t know if there should be a fourth season.

When Season 3 was confirmed, it made sense. The games really tell a lot of story in Part 2, from the views of two completely different characters, and trying to fit all of that into Season 2, with only seven episodes, would have been next to impossible. So, Season 3, I felt, was a reasonable number of seasons.

However, Druckmann recently said in an interview with Collider in May 2025 that there was “no way” to properly complete the narrative with just Season 3. And I’m really not too entirely sure about that.

Most Of The Story For Ellie Has Been Told

Let’s be real here – if you’ve played the game, you know how it’s split. We get about half of it with Ellie and the other half with Abby, and then we get about an extra two to three hours until the grand finale if you play it all the way through and aren’t looking to expand the story anymore.

Most of Ellie’s story has already been told. We are well into Day 3 with the finale, and I’m sure it’s going to end the same way that it did in the games.

We also know that Season 3 will most likely focus on the Abby side of the story, as Catherine O’Hara stated in an interview with Variety in May 2025. I’m not sure if Season 3 will have the same number of episodes, but it makes me wonder how much they’re going to change in order to fit her story in there.

That brings me to Season 4.

Are They Going To Add More Episodes For More Story Or Drag Out Both Abby And The Last Part?

If they’re going to be adding on a fourth season, does that mean that Abby’s story is going to bleed into the next season? Or are we just going to add a bunch of new stories in order to make Season 4 the same amount of episodes as Seasons 1 through 3?

While I’ve been a fan of the changes, they haven’t inherently changed the entire storyline…but trying to add another season when I feel Season 3 could sum everything up kind of worries me.

I may be overthinking this, but it seems like this is a bad idea. Who knows, though? It could become one of the best decisions HBO ever made, like getting Pedro Pascal as Joel for The Last of Us cast. Only time will tell. For now, I’ll remain cautiously optimistic.