The Last Of Us Co-Creator Says Show Could Be 3 To 5 Seasons Long

The Last Of Us co-creator and showrunner Craig Mazin has talked about the future of the show in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, confirming there are still multiple seasons left for the Emmy-nominated adaptation. Mazin also hinted that the show has already found its Abby, though casting announcements have been put on hold by the strike.

When asked whether Season 2 will include ten episodes, or follow the first season in only having nine, Mazin says "neither," elaborating that: "We've laid out our vision to HBO for how this series should lay out across not one season, but multiple seasons."

Having previously mentioned the idea of a fourth season in passing, Mazin is asked whether four seasons is the current plan for The Last Of Us. "You never know," he answers. "It can end up being three or five. But four seems like a good number. Some seasons, because of the story we’re telling, will need fewer episodes and some will need more."

"When all is said and done, I think the wisdom of how we lay it out will hopefully be clear," Mazin adds, after explaining that he doesn't want to add more episodes for the sake of a crowd-pleasing announcement. "I don't know if any season will actually have the same amount of episodes. But, whatever, the number's not important. What's important is when they get to the end of the season, they're like, 'That was a good season.'" While Mazin doesn't want to put a definite number on anything at this point, he also confirmed that the story of The Last Of Us Part 2 "does not fit into one season."

While on the topic of Part 2, Mazin discusses casting for the next season, including the major role of Abby. "Look, Abby was the first role that we wanted to tackle," he said, after explaining that the strike has put a pause on any casting for the moment. "We've got a pretty good track record of making major cast announcements and people going, 'Really?' which will probably continue. So people may disagree, but I think we got it right so far and the audience seems to feel we got it right and the Academy seems to feel we got it right."

Mazin also weighed in on the Hollywood strikes during the interview, saying he's confident the unions will win this fight.