Last week’s episode of The Last of Us Season 2 ended with a jarring twist. After witnessing Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) kill Jesse (Young Mazino) and shoot Ellie (Bella Ramsey), the HBO show cuts to black and then takes us three days earlier. We are still in Seattle, but now we’re going to see Abby’s side of the gruesome story we’ve been following all season.
It’s a fascinating creative shift that echoes some of the bolder choices made in the HBO hit’s source material, the video game, The Last of Us II. In that game, the player switches perspectives between Joel (Pedro Pascal), Abby, and Ellie, thereby illuminating the horrific human toll exacted by the characters’ various revenge schemes.
So far, The Last of Us has been focused on Joel and Ellie, but when will we get to tear into Abby’s story? When will the next episode of The Last of Us come out on HBO? Is The Last of Us on tonight?
Here’s everything you need to know about the future of HBO’s The Last of Us…
Hoping for a new episode of The Last of Us tonight? Well, unfortunately, there is no new episode of The Last of Us Season 2 on HBO and MAX tonight. The Last of Us Season 2 wrapped up its run last weekend.
Technically speaking, though, The Last of Us is on HBO tonight. HBO subscribers can tune in all day for a Last of Us Season 2 marathon starting at 12:36 PM ET and wrapping at 7:02 PM ET.
There are seven episodes in total in The Last of Us Season 2. That means that last week’s all-new episode of TLOU — The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 7 “Convergence” — was the season finale.
The question now is…
Worried we won’t find out what happened to Ellie? Don’t fret! HBO renewed The Last of Us for a third season all the way back on April 9, 2025.
The Last of Us Season 3 will adapt the rest of The Last of Us II, meaning Abby’s side of the story.
“There is another side to this story that we have yet to really delve into,” The Last of Us co-creator and co-showrunner Craig Mazin said during a virtual press conference last week. “There’s no question that Abby is the hero of her story.”
Mazin and his co-creator and co-showrunner Neil Druckmann also teased that Season 3 will answer many of the fans’ lingering questions from Season 2.
“What is going on? How did that war start? How did the Seraphites start? Who is the prophet? What happened to her? What does Isaac want? What’s happening at the end of Episode 7? What is this explosion? What is all of it?” Mazin said. “And all of that will become clear.“
We don’t know yet when exactly The Last of Us will be back on HBO, but we do know that new seasons of the show typically take approximately two years to go from scripts to the screen. Of course, the first two seasons of The Last of Us were delayed due to COVID-19 and the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. So there could be a tighter turnaround for the third season.
We anticipate that the earliest The Last of Us Season 3 will come out would be late 2026, but a safer bet for its return would be early 2027.
Worried that the end of The Last of Us means curtains for our girl Ellie? Still trying to convince yourself that Jesse is okay? Wondering why Mel’s (Ariela Barer) death is so much worse on HBO than it was in the game? You can check out DECIDER’s breakdown of the final The Last of Us Season 2 episode for answers to these burning. questions.
Ready to dive into the world of The Last of Us? Need to catch up on the new season? Dying to rewatch the good old days when Joel and Ellie were on the road? Here’s how to watch every episode of The Last of Us:
If you’re new to Max, you can sign up for as low as $9.99/month with ads, but an ad-free subscription will cost $16.99/month.
If you want to stream even more and save a few bucks a month while you’re at it, we recommend subscribing to one of the discounted Disney+ Bundles with Hulu and Max. With ads, the bundle costs $16.99/month and without ads, $29.99/month.
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