Zombie apocalypse enthusiasts are ready to tear the living flesh off the new HBO series The Last of Us, based on the popular video game franchise of the same name.

The new show, created by Craig Mazin (creator of the HBO miniseries Chernobyl) and Neil Druckmann (writer of the original game), arrives at the perfect time.

The Walking Dead recently concluded its 11th and final season on AMC last November, and zombie fans are hungry. However, fans of TWD shouldn’t expect to see a similar long-lived series run for The Last of Us — because the series’ creators don’t.

In a recent interview with Collider, Mazin and Druckmann said the future of their series, much like the fate of its protagonists, will be finite.

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Mazin shared his forecast for the series beyond its first season, which already incorporates all three acts from the first game’s storyline. He said:

The Last of Us was first released by game developer Naughty Dog in 2013 exclusively for Playstation, spawning a 2014-story expansion and a 2020 sequel. Mazin says the latter content is where future seasons will draw their story material.

“Probably the amount of remaining story would take us more than a season to tell. But definitely, I don’t see this as something that runs on and on and on. We don’t have that ambition. Our ambition is to tell the story that exists, as best as we can, in a different medium.”

Druckmann added:

“Yeah, I remember, early on, I asked Craig and HBO, ‘How many episodes does this season need to be?’ And the answer was, ‘As many as the story requires, and no more.’ And likewise, that would be our approach for future seasons to say, ‘Okay, this will be as many seasons as required to reach that ending, and no more.’”

The Last of Us Will Remain Faithful to the Games

     HBO

The creators have previously spoken out to assure fans that their television adaptation of the beloved Playstation game will remain true to the source material by focusing on the original story.

Earlier this month, Druckmann said:

Mazin added:

“[This] will be the best, most authentic game adaptation.”

The Last of Us airs on HBO and HBO Max tonight, Jan. 15, at 9 p.m. EST.

“That’s not the highest bar in the world. I cheated — I just took the one with the best story. Like, I love Assassin’s Creed. But when they announced that they were gonna make it as a movie, I was like, I don’t know how… Because the joy of it is the gameplay. The story is impenetrable.”