The second season of HBO's The Last of Us will debut on Max in 2025, with production on the new batch of episodes set to start early next year.
Max confirmed the release window for The Last of Us Season 2 in its "One to Watch" trailer, which showcases new originals, returning series, and more on its upcoming streaming slate. The Last of Us appeared in its 2025 section alongside several other titles, including The White Lotus and Euphoria, giving fans reason to celebrate.
The best is yet to come.
— Max (@StreamOnMax) December 6, 2023
New originals, returning series, and more are coming soon to Max, The One to Watch. pic.twitter.com/Rnfp7gpvAe
Showrunner Craig Mazin previously revealed in conversation with Variety that production on Season 2 of The Last of Us will start on February 12, 2024 - more than a year after HBO handed out a second season renewal to the post-apocalyptic drama, which stars Pedro Pascal as Joel Miller and Bella Ramsey as Ellie Williams.
The dual strikes of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) brought most of Hollywood's productions to a standstill this year. However, Mazin confirmed that he had finished writing the first episode of the sophomore season of The Last of Us right before screenwriters downed tools.
The writers' strike ended in September after nearly five months, while the actors strike came to a close on November 9, allowing all those involved in film and TV to resume work. Mazin remained hopeful that he could stick to a 2025 release date for The Last of Us, but there had been no official word on where it was upto.
Mazin has also said he is open to making spin-offs but has already teased that Part II will take "more than a season's worth of television", implying they will split the sequel into two or more seasons, which will be a big difference from the show's hugely successful first season that told the entire story of the original game.
The forthcoming chapter will apparently feature content from The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered's Lost Levels as well as moments that will be "radically different" from the game. It's hard to predict how the second season will play out, but IGN has had a go at plotting a rough outline of what might occur in the next run of episodes.
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on X @AdeleAnkers.
source https://www.ign.com/articles/the-last-of-us-season-2-release-date-2025