Filming has begun, and The Last of Us is already eyeing Abby’s most anticipated chapter in the story

With no new episode airing since May 2025, The Last of Us, available on Max, has returned to the center of conversations for a concrete reason: filming for the third season began in March 2026, nearly a year after the renewal was announced. For a fan base accustomed to waiting long stretches between seasons, any sign of movement on set is already enough to reignite the discussion — and this time the trigger came alongside changes to the creative team that also drew attention.

The series' trajectory helps explain why every piece of news carries so much weight. The first season premiered in January 2023 and immediately became a phenomenon, earning 24 Emmy nominations and eight wins in technical categories. The second season arrived in April 2025, adapting the first half of the game "The Last of Us Part II" and had an even stronger audience debut — 5.3 million viewers on its first day, surpassing the previous season's premiere by 10% — but divided opinions along the way. Critics rated the new episodes highly, with a 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences reacted more coldly to the decision to split the game's story across more than one season, and that divide was also reflected in the awards: out of 16 nominations at the 2025 Emmys, the season took home just one statuette, a result considered disappointing after the performance of the first batch of episodes.

What explains the buzz now goes beyond the simple start of filming. One of the most talked-about developments was Neil Druckmann's departure as a central figure in production for this third season — the cocreator of the original game will leave the television production to focus on new projects at Naughty Dog. The news caused some concern among fans, but HBO assured that Druckmann left a well-defined work plan and that Craig Mazin will continue as showrunner, leading the development of the new episodes. Add to that the confirmation that the showrunner revealed that the third season's focus will be the character Abby — the most controversial and most anticipated pivot in the story told in "Part II" — and it becomes clear why anticipation has grown again even without a trailer or premiere date set.

In the cast, the season also promises relevant new additions: Clea DuVall (known for "21 Grams" and "Argo") has already been confirmed in the role of a Seraphite, a member of a sectarian religious cult that gains importance in the plot from this point onward. Meanwhile, the core formed by Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, Kaitlyn Dever and Isabela Merced remains the center of attention, with the certainty that the season will delve into exactly the part of the story that divided players of the original title between 2020 and today.

The premiere date is still uncertain — the most realistic forecasts point to 2027 — but if there is one thing The Last of Us has already proven, it is that it knows how to turn waiting into anticipation. Between behind-the-scenes details revealed little by little and a season that promises to confront the saga's most debated chapter head-on, the audience seems willing to keep following every step of this journey, no matter how slowly it moves.