It appears that The Last of Us fans who are eagerly awaiting Season 2 of the HBO adaptation series will have to wait a long time before the new season is released.
The second installment was initially aiming for a release sometime in 2025 but that was before the Writers Guild of America strike started, according to Francesca Orsi, HBO’s head of drama.
With that in place, the already far-off release window is now uncertain, with Orsi stating that there is “some question about timing” regarding the future of this show as well as many others.
Orsi discussed The Last of Us and other HBO programs in relation to the WGA strike in an interview with Deadline.
Orsi stated in her remarks that everything is currently “pencils down,” which has caused HBO to reevaluate when these types of shows will receive their upcoming seasons.
“While everything at this moment is pencils down, I’m hopeful that we can come to terms sooner than later. Otherwise we will have to assess what is the end of the 24 schedule, what are the shows that are going to be delivered for 2025. At this point, those shows that I’m looking to air wouldn’t necessarily be ready if this strike last six to nine months. So yes, that’s a big question for us, but I think we’ll cross that road once we come to it.”
Although The Last of Us wasn’t specifically mentioned there, Orsi later clarified that 2025 was the anticipated release year for the series before the WGA strike started.
“We were looking at The Last Of Us for some time in 2025. And The White Lotus was ideally looking to go in 2024 but there’s some question about timing of the strike,” Orsi went on to say.
Neil Druckmann, the co-creator and writer of the series as well as the creator of The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part 2 video games, previously stated that the production team would begin work on the second season in the coming months rather than years.
Those remarks, however, were made before the WGA strike, so plans have undoubtedly changed since then.