John Goodman and game veterans Ian Alexander & Laura Bailey are the latest to join The Last Of Us season 3. More on that below.
Update: The cast of The Last Of Us season 3 is growing rapidly! Deadline reports that Laura Bailey, who played Abby in the original The Last Of Us Part II game, has joined the third season as Elizabeth, a leader of the Seraphites. Gamers, like this writer, will be excited to hear this as even if the character isn’t necessarily quite as beloved, Bailey’s performance as Abby is lauded and cherished.
She’ll also be joined by John Goodman and Ian Alexander in the new season. Deadline reports that the pair will play Joey and Paco, a “friendly” pair that dubs themselves the “Heroes Of The Highway”. Alexander previously played Lev in the game, a role that will now being played by Kyriana Kratter in the HBO series.
The head of game studio Naughty Dog, Neil Druckmann has stepped aside from the showrunner responsibilities for season 3, which might now turn out to be the final season. The CEO of HBO Casey Bloys at least seems to think so.
“I think [showrunner] Craig [Mazin] has planned it as the final season,” Bloys told Deadline in an interview.
Season 3 is still set to premiere in 2027, but there’s no closer date or release window yet.
Our original story follows…
12.6.2026: The Last Of Us season 3 is slowly creeping towards us. After season 2 aired in 2025 to positive reviews from critics but some criticism from fans of the games, season 3 was announced to hit small screens in 2027 to conclude the narrative of The Last Of Us Part II.
Deadline now brings us news that a new cast member has been added to the already impressive list of names. Peter Sarsgaard has joined the show’s cast as Amon, a completely original character, created solely for the show.
Amon is one of the leaders of the Seraphites, a religious cult fighting with the WLF for the streets of Seattle. Think of the two groups as the Jets and the Sharks, just without Tony and Maria, less dancing and more ruthless violence.
Production on the new season started in March and has now come to a halt to give the FIFA World Cup some room. The Last Of Us is being filmed in Vancouver, which is one of the host cities for the football event and seeing a football fan in the middle of apocalyptic Seattle might slightly ruin the tone of the show. Production is expected to pick back up again later in the year.
While we don’t have full confirmation, season 3 will likely adapt the second half of The Last Of Us Part II which forced gamers to play as Abby, the game’s antagonist, played in the show by Kaitlyn Dever. The game proved highly controversial, so it’ll be interesting to see what the reaction is from TV audiences. Season 3 is also expected to be the show’s last season.
Craig Mazin is on sole showrunner duties for season 3 after Neil Druckmann, one of the directors of the games and head of the game studio Naughty Dog, stepped away from such responsibilities.
Sarsgaard was last seen in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! and in 2024’s excellent thriller September 5. He’ll join Dever, Jeffrey Wright, Spencer Lord, Tati Gabrielle, Ariela Barer, Michelle Mao and Kyriana Kratter in the cast. Bella Ramsey, Gabriel Luna and Isabela Merced will likely also appear in reduced roles for this season, at least in the beginning.
