Back in July 2026, Norman Reedus took the world by surprise by announcing that the fourth and final season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon would take longer than expected to hit the small screen. AMC initially announced that the final batch of episodes would be released in 2026 along with the third season of The Walking Dead: Dead City. However, a sudden delay pushed Daryl and Carol's final adventure back to February 2027, meaning we're still counting the days until we see whether the iconic duo manages to return home.
The sudden delay of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon was, naturally, met with a little disappointment. But if that wasn't enough, it appears another legendary zombie show could also meet a similar fate. While the first season of HBO's The Last of Us was acclaimed by fans and critics alike, the second season received more mixed reactions (much like Naughty Dog's games). Now, everyone is eager to see whether the third season will mark a return to form for the show, but there's a chance that we won't get an answer until later than expected.
The Last of Us season 3 could be internally delayed amid production schedule changes
Production on The Last of Us season 3 was initially expected to wrap in November 2026, ahead of a 2027 release window. However, those plans have recently changed.
Principal photography for The Last of Us season 3 will be paused on Nov. 18, 2026, and won't be resumed until Jan. 17, 2027. Now, the show is expected to wrap production by Feb. 12, 2027, which is nearly three months later than originally expected. Naturally, this could have an impact on the season's release date.
HBO has never officially revealed a release date for The Last of Us season 3, other than stating it will come out in 2027. That being said, principal photography for season 2 wrapped in August 2024, and the episodes were released in April 2025, meaning there were eight months of post-production. Likewise, principal photography for season 1 ended in June 2022 ahead of a January 2023 release, meaning seven months of post-production were needed.
If we were to assume a similar scenario is in store for The Last of Us season 3, that means the episodes will now target a release around September or October 2027, while a June release was possible before the pause in the production schedule.
On the bright side, the upcoming batch of episodes should still be on track to be released in 2027, even if it is towards the last third of the year. It will be a bittersweet release, especially since The Last of Us season 3 will likely be the last one as well, as hinted by Chairman and CEO of HBO and Max Content, Casey Bloys. However, this was to be expected, especially considering there are no more games to draw from after The Last of Us: Part II.
But even if The Last of Us season 3 will likely release towards the last months of 2027, we still have The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon to look forward to at the beginning of the year. And who knows? Perhaps another zombie project like Resident Evil Veronica could bridge the gap between these two projects by being released around the middle of 2027. One thing is clear: there are a lot of zombie projects coming next year, and we can't wait to see how they pan out.
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