HBO’s The Last of Us is set to return to us very soon, hurrah.

The acclaimed TV adaptation will return for its second season this coming April, although an exact release date remains unknown at the time of writing.

This time around, showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann will begin to adapt The Last of Us Part II, and I’m hugely interested to see what they do with the game’s structure.

Given that Isaac has been cast, with Jeffrey Wright reprising the role, I assume some of Abby’s storyline will be dealt with.

That being said, she barely features in the trailer outside of a couple of lead ups to that scene, plus Yara and Lev haven’t been cast to our knowledge, which makes you think most of Abby’s content is being held back.

With that in mind, season two looks primarily set to focus on Ellie’s early days in Seattle.

Let’s face it, we shouldn’t expect the season to cover too much of the story; Mazin and Druckmann have always made it clear that The Last of Us Part II would be adapted across multiple seasons, something they were talking about as far back as when the game was still in development.

It’s the show’s longevity I want to highlight today, as a new tease about the number of seasons it’ll go on for could quietly be making reference to The Last of Us Part III.

The Last of Us Part III hasn’t formally been announced, but it’s almost a given that it’s happening.

In the Grounded II documentary that landed alongside The Last of Us Part II Remastered last year, Druckmann confirmed that he’d finally landed on the right idea to conclude the trilogy.

That being said, he’s busy creating Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, so I can’t imagine The Last of Us Part III is going to land too soon.

That could complicate the show, however, as it may catch up if this latest tease is anything to go by.

HBO executive vice president Francesca Orsi recently told Deadline that she’s expecting The Last of Us to run for four seasons.

“We don’t have a complete or final plan, but I think it’s looking like four seasons,” she began.

“I wouldn’t want to confirm that, but it’s looking like this season and then two more seasons after this and we’re done.”

Season one was based on The Last of Us Part I, which leaves two possibilities.

The first is that seasons two to four adapt The Last of Us Part II with the TV version of the story ending following the events in Santa Barbara.

The second option is that seasons two and three adapt The Last of Us Part II while season four adapts The Last of Us Part III.

This is all speculation, but that would suggest that The Last of Us Part III is a more contained game than its predecessor, if it’s adaptable in a single season.

Of course, The Last of Us Part III will only be adapted if it’s been released.

Assumedly, season three is about two years away if we’re to base this on the standard modern TV cycle of every two years.

That would place a fourth season around four years away. Could The Last of Us Part III launch by 2029?

It does feel plausible, but as I said, this is all a hypothesis.

The bottom line is that we’ve got several more seasons of The Last of Us to go and whatever they adapt, I’m sure we’re in for an incredible ride.