The Last of Us Season 2 Gets Discouraging Release Update

Fans may be kept waiting a bit longer for The Last of Us Season 2 after the latest discouraging release update. But when will it come to HBO?

Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey’s The Last of Us was renewed for Season 2 just weeks into the first outing in January 2023 with plans to adapt Naughty Dog’s sequel video game. But regardless, that won’t be the end for The Last of Us as Part II is expected to be adapted across multiple seasons.

The Last of Us Season 2 Coming Later Than Expected

During the Warner Bros. Discovery Q4 2023 earnings call – via Seeking Alpha – CEO David Zaslav offered a discouraging update on the long-awaited release date of The Last of Us Season 2.

Zaslav revealed HBO will “kick off the year” in 2025 with The White Lotus Season 2 to be “followed by” new outings of The Last of Us and Euphoria:

“Then in 2025, we’ll kick off the year with the new season of The White Lotus, followed by The Last of Us and Euphoria, just to name a few…”

As HBO will not air two of its biggest original series concurrently to better distribute its content across the year, this means The Last of Us Season 2 won’t come to screens until The White Lotus has concluded its third season at the top of the year.

This comes after HBO began production on both The Last of Us Season 2 and The White Lotus Season 2 in mid-February this year. But due to its more real-world setting, the black comedy will undoubtedly require less post-production work to reach the finish line than the post-apocalyptic video game adaptation.

The Last of Us Season 2’s Likely Release Date

Over the last few years, HBO has had major original premieres in mid-January, with The Last of Us in 2023 and True Detective: Night Country in 2024. As such, The White Lotus could take this window for 2025 and therefore conclude its eight-episode third season at some point in early March.

According to a listing from the Directors Guild of Canada, The Last of Us Season 2 filming is expected to wrap on August 21, making for 191 days of production.

Looking at Season 1, after wrapping production in June 2022, the HBO original came to screens under seven months later in January 2023. But as the freshman outing was filmed across an 11-month window, versus seven months for Season 2, more post-production work was likely done while cameras were still rolling.

But assuming around seven or eight months of post-production work after finishing production this August, The Last of Us Season 2 ought to be ready to go by around March or April 2025. This ought to align well with The White Lotus Season 3 ending around March before the focus shifts to The Last of Us around April.

The Last of Us Season 1 is streaming now on Max.