Release Date of ‘The Last of Us’ Season 3

Sunday nights were previously reserved for HBO’s The Last of Us. During a seven-week period in the spring, viewers were eagerly tuning in to discover the new challenges facing Joel (played by Pedro Pascal), Ellie (played by Bella Ramsey), and Abby (played by Kaitlyn Dever). The series became a must-watch show that sparked conversations everywhere. Keeping up with the unexpected plot twists, revelations, and character deaths was essential to avoid spoilers from colleagues like Dave in accounting. But is there a new episode of The Last of Us airing on HBO tonight? And when can we expect The Last of Us Season 3 to be released?

As many are aware, The Last of Us is based on the immensely popular video game franchise of the same name. While the first season adapted the original Last of Us game, the second season delved into the storyline of The Last of Us Part II. Fans of the games are particularly intrigued by the Season 3 conclusion, which hints at unveiling a different perspective on the series’ intense narrative.

Therefore, questions arise about witnessing events from Abby’s viewpoint, discovering Ellie’s fate post-Season 2, exploring the futures of characters like Dina (portrayed by Isabela Merced) and Tommy (portrayed by Gabriel Luna), and understanding the ongoing conflict between the Seraphites and the W.L.F. Why are these factions engaged in a bitter internal struggle, and what could potentially happen next in the tumultuous narrative?

Is The Last of Us cancelled? Is it coming back? When will Part III drop?

Here’s everything you need to know about when The Last of Us comes back…

Alas, there is no new episode of The Last of Us on HBO or MAX tonight.

There were seven episodes in total in The Last of Us Season 2. The Last of Us Season 2 Episode 7 “Convergence” was the season finale and it originally aired on May 25, 2025.

No, The Last of Us was not cancelled (or canceled, depending on how you choose to spell it). In fact, HBO announced they would be making The Last of Us Season 3 all the way back on April 9, 2025.

Yes! HBO is very definitely making The Last of Us Season 3. As fans of the games might expect, The Last of Us Season 3 will adapt the rest of The Last of Us II. That means that TLOU Season 3 will reveal what Abby was up to during those three tumultuous days in Seattle.

“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 recent virtual press conference attended by DECIDER. “There’s no question that Abby is the hero of her story. Kaitlyn Dever is the hero of a story always, you know? I mean, if you have Kaitlyn Dever, you use a Kaitlyn Dever.”

Mazin also teased that the third season will answer many questions sparked in 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.“

As the conference ended, Mazin was asked if there was anything he could tease about Season 3 and he teasingly answered, “Rats, what should we talk about?” The implication being that we will see a Rat King version of the cordyceps zombies next season.

While we know for sure that The Last of Us Season 3 is happening, we don’t yet know exactly when it will be back on HBO or HBO MAX.

It took HBO about two years to make The Last of Us Seasons 1 and 2, so a safe bet would be to expect that The Last of Us Season 3 will come out in 2027.

However, it has to be acknowledged that the first two seasons of The Last of Us were also delayed due to COVID-19 and the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, respectively. So there’s a chance there could be a tighter turnaround for the third season. We think the very earliest TLOU Season 3 could come out would be late 2026, but it’s probably going to be 2027.

Still worried Abby killed Ellie at the end ofThe Last of Us Season 2? Are you still hoping that Jesse is okay? Wondering why you remember Mel’s (Ariela Barer) death not being as bad in the game? Check out DECIDER’s breakdown of The Last of Us Season 2 finale to learn more!

Trying to find The Last of Us on Netflix or Hulu or Prime Video? Good luck! The only place you can stream on The Last of Us is on HBO or MAX (soon to be renamed HBO MAX).

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.