The Last Of Us Season 4: Pros & Cons Of Extending The HBO...

HBO Has A The Last Of Us Problem To Solve

Joel comforts Ellie in The Last of Us

By Ben Sherlock Published 48 minutes ago Ben Sherlock is a Tomatometer-approved film and TV critic who runs the massively underrated YouTube channel I Got Touched at the Cinema. Before working at Screen Rant, Ben wrote for Game Rant, Taste of Cinema, Comic Book Resources, and BabbleTop. He's also an indie filmmaker, a standup comedian, and an alumnus of the School of Rock. Sign in to your ScreenRant account Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Last of Us Part II.

It’s been teased that The Last of Us might stretch its adaptation of the video game past season 3, but there are pros and cons to a Santa Barbara-based season 4. HBO is currently hard at work on The Last of Us season 3, which will retell the three days Ellie spent in Seattle from Abby’s perspective.

But Craig Mazin has suggested that The Last of Us might need a fourth season to cover the epilogue that follows Abby’s section of the game. He doesn’t think he can cover Abby’s three days in Seattle, Ellie and Dina on the farm, and the grueling ordeal in Santa Barbara all in a single season.

HBO just announced release windows for House of the Dragon seasons 3 and 4 simultaneously, so it might be getting into the habit of giving premature renewals to its biggest hit shows. Shows like House of the Dragon and The Last of Us and The White Lotus are so popular that HBO can afford to renew them for more than one season at a time.

But should The Last of Us get a fourth season? Should those final levels of the game get an entire season of their own? It’s still unclear whether The Last of Us will stretch to season 4, but there would be advantages and disadvantages on either side. So, here is a case for — and a case against — The Last of Us season 4.

Covering Abby's Seattle Days & Santa Barbara In The Last Of Us Season 3 Might Feel Rushed

Abby looking at Soundview Stadium, the WLF’s base in The Last of Us Season 2 Ep 7

If The Last of Us covers Abby’s three days in Seattle, Ellie’s return to Wyoming, and the finale in Santa Barbara all in the same season, then it might end up feeling rushed. Season 2 already felt rushed adapting the Jackson prologue and Ellie’s Seattle days in seven episodes, and season 3 would have even more narrative ground to cover.

The simplest solution is just to make more episodes — HBO gave The Sopranos a 21-episode final season — but the business of television is very different now than it was back then. It’s a lot more expensive and time-consuming to make a CGI-heavy post-apocalyptic action series like The Last of Us than a gritty, surreal gangster drama set in contemporary New Jersey.

If The Last of Us season 3 races through Abby’s days one episode at a time like season 2 did, then Ellie and Dina would be on the farm by episode 4, Ellie would be headed for California by episode 5, and the whole thing would be over and done with by episode 6. This story and these characters deserve a lot more breathing room.

There Might Not Be Enough Material In Santa Barbara To Sustain A Full Season Of The Last Of Us

Ellie in Santa Barbara in The Last of Us Part II

While there’s definitely enough material in Abby’s section of the game to sustain a full season, there might not be enough material in the Santa Barbara section to justify a whole season. We see Ellie try to settle down with Dina, suffer from debilitating PTSD, follow Abby to California, fight her to the death, and spare her at the last second.

There’s a lot of juicy material there, but even if you include extra scenes on the farm and give Ellie new obstacles to overcome in Santa Barbara, you could only stretch it to three episodes max. It might make more sense to cover the Santa Barbara section as a feature-length series finale, like HBO did with Deadwood: The Movie and Hello Ladies: The Movie.

Focusing The Last Of Us Season 3 Entirely On Abby Would Allow The Show To Dig Deeper

Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) with a furious look in The Last of Us Season 2 Ep 7

By putting off the trip to Santa Barbara for a later season, The Last of Us season 3 could focus entirely on Abby from start to finish. This section of the game has a unique dramatic function: it takes a character that the audience hates with a vengeance, shows her side of the story, and makes you empathize with her.

To translate that powerful audience experience into this new medium, the TV show needs to put in the time. The interactivity of the game acted as a shortcut to the audience’s emotions. Playing as Abby, literally walking a mile in her shoes, forces the player to empathize with her and consider her perspective.

The TV show doesn’t have that interactivity, but it does have much more time to focus on quieter dramatic beats than a video game. Games are under constant pressure to give the player something to do, so The Last of Us Part II could only touch on Isaac’s mentorship of Abby and the souring of Abby’s relationship with Owen and the rift between Abby and Mel.

Much like season 1 did with Bill and Frank, or season 2 did with Eugene, The Last of Us season 3 should dig deeper into characters and plot points that were only mentioned in the game. It could show us Lev and Yara growing disillusioned with the Seraphites’ leadership. It could show us Isaac questioning Abby’s friends for her whereabouts. It could even show us the fabled prophet.

The Wait Between Seasons Of The Last Of Us (& Most Other TV Shows) Is Getting Interminable

Ellie holding a guitar in The Last of Us season 2

Back in the day, successful TV shows released a season a year. But it’s becoming increasingly common for shows to wait two or even three years to release a new season. Stranger Things, Wednesday, Severance, The Boys, and House of the Dragon take absurdly long hiatuses between seasons. There was a two-and-a-bit-year gap between seasons 1 and 2 of The Last of Us.

It’ll be at least another couple of years before we see season 3. If the show drags out into season 4, then we could be in the 2030s before it finally ends. If The Last of Us gets the rest of its story out of the way in season 3, at least it would save us another two-year wait.

The Last Of Us

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