While speaking about the ongoing WGA Writer’s Strike, HBO’s head of drama has revealed that season two of The Last of Us is currently aiming for a 2025 release.
Earlier this month, it was reported that the production of the second season of HBO’s The Last of Us was put on hold due to the ongoing Writer’s Guild of America strikes. The report from Variety indicated that casting was underway for the second season and that the team was asking actors to read lines from The Last of Us Part 2 before production shut down. This gives us some idea of how far along the second season is, but a recent interview might have just revealed a release window.
While speaking to Deadline, HBO’s head of drama, Francesca Orsi, discussed how the ongoing WGA Writer’s Strike has impacted some of the shows that are currently in development at the network, such as White Lotus and, of course, The Last of Us, which got picked up for a second season shortly after the debut of the first season’s second episode.
While commenting on the impact of the Writer’s Strike, Orsi specifically mentioned season two of The Last of Us, noting that HBO had previously excepted it to launch in 2025. Orsi said, “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…We were looking at The Last Of Us for some time in 2025.”
Although it’s nice to get some indication of when we can expect more of The Last of Us, it’s worth noting that Orsi’s comments on the release window come while talking about the effect that the Writer’s Strike is having on HBO’s release windows and that she notes several times in the piece that the release dates are going to depend on when the Writer’s Strike is over. Orsi even admitted that “those shows that I’m looking to air wouldn’t necessarily be ready if this strike last six to nine months”.
As is the case for many television shows and movies in development right now, the release date is going to depend entirely on when the WGA strikes end, which is hopefully when the guild’s reasonable demands of six to 12 staff writers for every streaming show and a minimum of ten to 52 guaranteed employment weeks are agreed upon. If you’d like to read up more about why the WGA’s strike is so important, we’ve got a feature for that right here.
