‘The Last of Us’ Season 2 Episode Count Reduced

Fans eagerly awaiting The Last of Us Season 2 are in for some disappointing news. Following a more than a year-long wait, when the Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey-starring series returns to HBO next year, viewers will have fewer episodes to watch. Speaking with Deadline, creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann confirmed that the hit show’s sophomore run will consist of just seven episodes, two fewer than the show’s Season 1 episode count.

“The story material that we got from Part II of the game is way more than the story material that was in the first game, so part of what we had to do from the start was figure out how to tell that story across seasons,” Mazin said. “When you do that, you look for natural breakpoints, and as we laid it out, this season, the national breakpoint felt like it came after seven episodes.”

Mazin went on to assure fans that “the idea that this season coming up is a little bit shorter than the first one is not because we’re taking less time to tell the stories, it’s because we want to take more time.” He explained that “the story that we’re telling is much bigger than the story of Season 1, there’s just a lot more going on, it’s a lot harder to produce but we want every episode to feel like its own blockbuster to be honest with you.” Stating that they are “committed to delivering people great seasons and arcs,” Mazin explained that “instead of us having to figure out how to create seasons around an artificial number, we create the length of the seasons around the story and how we are telling it.” Druckmann added that “there is no padding,” and “everything that is in there is intentional.”

It’s still unclear how the season will compare in terms of complete minute length, as runtimes for Season 2’s episodes haven’t been released, though Mazin teased that one episode is “quite big.” Season 1 had nine total episodes, which averaged a 58-minute runtime. The debut episode clocked in at the longest, with a runtime reaching one hour and 21 minutes, while the shortest episode, the finale, had a 44-minute runtime.

While episode two may be shorter, at least in terms of episode count, it’s not all bad news. Since there was so much source material from the Part II game, and not all of it could fit into a second season, it means there are already plans for The Last of Us Season 3 and beyond.

“We don’t think that we’re going to be able to tell the story even within two seasons [2 and 3] because we’re taking our time and go down interesting pathways which we did a little bit in Season 1 too,” Mazin said. “We feel like it’s almost assuredly going to be the case that – as long as people keep watching and we can keep making more television – Season 3 will be significantly larger. And indeed, the story may require Season 4.”

Based on Naughty Dog’s award-winning video game, The Last of Us is set 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed by a mass fungal infection caused by a mutation in the genus Cordyceps, turning humans into cannibalistic creatures. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone.

The Last of Us Season 1 is available to stream on Max. Season 2, which Druckmann described as “a continuation of love from the first season” and “just the dark side of that coin,” is expected to premiere in 2025.