HBO has stopped scheduled production on The Last of Us Season 3 due to the World Cup, while the show’s leadership signals the series is still expected to return in 2027. With Craig Mazin now steering the final season after Neil Druckmann’s departure, the conve
By the time the World Cup pulled focus, it also paused something fans have been holding their breath for: scheduled production on The Last of Us Season 3.
HBO’s blockbuster series—based on the award-winning video games developed by Naughty Dog—has already weathered long stretches of waiting before. The first season aired in 2023, then the show went on hiatus for two years before returning for Season 2 in 2023. Now, production for Season 3 has come to a scheduled halt because of the World Cup.
Even with that stop-and-start rhythm, the plan for what comes next looks built into the show’s horizon. All signs point to The Last of Us returning in 2027.
The person tasked with bringing it home is Craig Mazin. The series was written and created for TV by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann. but after Druckmann left to work on Naughty Dog’s next game. Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. Mazin is now tasked with getting Season 3—the show’s third and final season—finished.
His job isn’t happening in a vacuum. Mazin has also been known for another HBO hit, Chernobyl, and that track record keeps a spotlight fixed on what he might do next.
Earlier this year. news broke that Mazin is actively developing a new series for HBO based on the Game of the Year-winning video game Baldur’s Gate 3. which won in 2023 over other popular titles like Spider-Man 2. At the moment, it’s unclear when that Baldur’s Gate series would be released. HBO Max boss Casey Bloys offered the only clear timing thread so far. saying Mazin plans to begin shooting the new fantasy series only after he has more time—after focusing on The Last of Us.
As Bloys put it, Mazin is going to focus on The Last of Us, and then come back to Baldur’s Gate when he’s got more time.
For now, details about the Baldur’s Gate show remain scarce, and more information is expected later this year or early in 2027.
The schedule story and the creative story feed into each other. The series has a finish line—Season 3. described as the third and final season—and Mazin’s role is being framed around that end point. With Druckmann no longer attached to the series in the same way. the question fans keep asking isn’t just when Season 3 returns. It’s how far the show can go while still staying faithful to what The Last of Us Part II already built.
One part of the wider fan conversation has a simple shape: HBO’s plan to tell Abby’s side of the story in Season 3. The first season adapted the entire first game in the franchise. Season 2 adapted only the Ellie storyline from The Last of Us Part II. Season 3 is set to tell Abby’s side. with Kaitlyn Dever stepping into a much larger role for the next batch of episodes.
Once Abby’s story is finished, HBO’s The Last of Us series will have told the entire story from The Last of Us Part II. That, in turn, is part of why the series would need to go off-script to continue into Season 4 and beyond.
With Druckmann leaving to return to video games, it’s described as highly unlikely that Mazin would want to take the characters outside the confines of the source material.
So the pause caused by the World Cup isn’t just a production delay—it’s a reminder that The Last of Us is now in its closing act. The show may be aimed at a 2027 return. but the momentum behind it now runs through one core job: getting the final season across the finish line. then deciding what comes next in the fantasy pipeline HBO is assembling.
The Last of Us Season 3 HBO Craig Mazin Neil Druckmann World Cup production halt 2027 return Baldur's Gate 3 series Casey Bloys Kaitlyn Dever Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet