The Last of Us Will Shift to Abby’s POV for Season 3

The following story contains some spoilers for the The Last of Us season 2 finale.

THE LAST OF Us has completed its second season, and—just a hunch—you’re on the edge of your seat. After a season filled with action, twists, and drama, the story ends with a dramatic stand-off between Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey), and a gunshot that could mean just about anything, before the screen suddenly and abruptly cuts to black.

But that’s not the end of the season. For a few more moments, The Last of Us season 2 continues, as we see Abby wake up from a nap, walk through the halls, and reveal herself to be inside the Seattle football stadium (now known as Lumen Field), as an on-screen graphic then reveals that we’re seeing Abby’s journey in Seattle—and this is day one.

This is a signature shift in The Last of Us Part II video game. Players get to peripherally know Abby, at first, with limited context. She’s violent, brutal, and kills Joel. But then, at a climactic moment, you’re quite literally forced into her shoes, taking on a new POV and being forced to play as her in a brand new story in a brand new setting. The show, with the end of season 2 and, presumably, a majority of season 3, will be following this same pattern.

There’s lots more for season 3 to get into, like the aftermath of Abby and Ellie’s standoff that resulted in Jesse’s death. But first, we’re going to really get to know who Abby is and what she’s all about.

Will The Last of Us have a season 3?

HBO

Yes! The Last of Us was already renewed for season 3 back in April 2025, before season 2 even premiered. That’s good news, because it means co-creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have been able to get a head start on the new season and not have to wait around to see if the show would get renewed.

As mentioned above, the story of season 3 will almost certainly re-focus its POV on Abby, making her the new de-facto main character. That means a lot more big moments for Kaitlyn Dever, who has been tremendous in her limited time to date as Abby, and it means we’ll also get to see more of her dynamic with the rest of her WLF friends.

It also likely means that we’ll get to see more of Jeffrey Wright’s Isaac, who was another season 2 standout in his limited time on screen; The finale episode hinted that Isaac and Abby have an intense and complex relationship, and it’ll be interesting to see what goes into that.

When will The Last of Us season 3 come out?

HBO

There were just about two years between season 1 and season 2 of The Last of Us, but there was also a WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike in that same time period. In all likelihood, we could expect the next season of The Last of Us to premiere some time in early 2027—and that would likely be at the very latest, assuming no roadblocks get in the way before then.

Evan is the culture editor for Men’s Health, with bylines in The New York Times, MTV News, Brooklyn Magazine, and VICE. He loves weird movies, watches too much TV, and listens to music more often than he doesn’t.