According to showrunner Craig Mazin, The Last of Us Season 2’s first episode was already written and submitted before the writer’s strike deadline.

The mighty cordycep promoters are back in the think-tank! Showrunner and series co-creator of HBO’s The Last of Us, Craig Mazin, confirmed in a recent interview that the second season’s first episode has officially been written. However, with the SAG-AFTRA writer’s strike affecting writer’s rooms (and actors joining the picket lines last week), fans may not get to see the next season within the original 2025 release window.

Mazin spoke with Deadline, explaining how the writing team met the submission deadline before the strike, “Neil [Druckmann] and I had been sitting and talking with Halley Gross, who also worked on the second game as a writer, and Bo Shim, the new writer that was in our little tiny room with us.” This was all said following the announcement that The Last of Us Season 1 was up for 24 nominations for the 75th Emmy Awards.

The show has become a global phenomenon, sparking great conversations and leading both new and old fans back to the games. It became HBO’s most streamed show and was immediately renewed for a second season two and a half weeks into the first season’s live run. Mazin and Druckmann have already noted how the second season would be delving into the story of The Last of Us Part 2. Additionally, they noted how there could be a third season to break the second game down further.

For now, Mazin explained that after submitting that first episode, he is now “walking around kind of brain-writing”, and really fixated on coming up with a plan to hit the 2025 planned release date for the show. He stated how “if these strikes go much longer we inevitably will have to push and that hurts us, and it hurts the audience, and it hurts HBO.” He continued explaining that he believes everyone wants to get back to work as soon as possible and the problems get resolved.

With the writer’s strike and actor’s strike, Hollywood productions have already taken a solid hit on filming and marketing purposes. Actors from major productions like Barbie and Oppenheimer have already decided to join the picket lines. Most recently, the red carpet premiere for Haunted Mansion was also actor-less. As negotiations and talks continue to ramp up, it seems like The Last of Us Season 2’s release date most likely might unfortunately be pushed back. One thing for sure is we can definitely expect to see Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey return as the titular duo of Joel and Ellie.