A star of "The Last of Us" is shining a light on what's coming next.

The hit TV series based on the popular video game saga premiered in January 2023 with Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal leading the way.

Season one received critical acclaim and a significant following as viewers watched Ellie and Joel navigate a post-apocalyptic world.

It was a dark and gritty show that saw the protagonists battle the infected and humans.

"The Last of Us" star shares update on season three.

Unfortunately, season two had a noticeable decline in quality. Outside of maybe two episodes, it felt like the show had lost its edge.

The only reason to believe season three might be positive is that the season two finale indicated the show would focus heavily on Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) moving forward.

Now, star Gabriel Luna is pulling back the curtain on what fans can expect.

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"This season has been very interesting in the way that a lot of different perspectives shift. Without saying too much, I think folks that were playing the game are aware of that aspect. I just can’t wait for people to see it. We’re shooting it now. I have a little bit of a break," Luna told Variety in a video shared Tuesday night.

You can watch his full comments below, and let me know your thoughts at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.

Here's the basic reality of the situation. "The Last of Us" will have a very small window of opportunity to convince fans to continue sticking around.

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The Ellie storyline (Ramsey) got so cringe down the stretch. Abby, who killed Joel in season two, is a far more interesting character, and Kaitlyn Dever is simply a much more captivating actress. She's come a long way since season two of "Justified."

Fans are going to punch out quickly if season three doesn't go all in on Abby as the main focus. Not exactly inspired that's what will happen, judging from Luna's comments, but time will tell.

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It's just a shame how far season two fell off compared to season one. Hopefully, it can be salvaged.

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There is no set release date yet for season three, but fans will likely get the premiere at some point in 2027. Let me know your thoughts at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.

• Netflix has been talking about its plans to build a video game business for years.
• More recently, it has told investors it was also excited about its move into podcasts.
• Now it has nothing to say about either category. Its silence may be telling.

For years, Netflix has been telling investors how excited it is about its move into video games.

More recently, it has also started talking up its move into podcasts.

But when the company released its third-quarter earnings on Tuesday, the streamer had nothing to say about either foray.

What does that mean? Netflix won't say. But I'm pretty comfortable coming up with my own conclusion: Netflix doesn't think games or podcasts are going to do much for its business, at least in the near future.

That also tracks with new reporting from The Wall Street Journal, which says that Netflix has recently "stopped pushing games and podcasts, focusing more on its core movie and TV offerings."

That's logical, given the most pressing problem the company has: figuring out how to make movies and TV shows that attract new subscribers, and that get its existing subscribers to spend more time on the service.

But it's also a real turnaround, at least in its messaging.

Netflix has consistently talked up games since it launched that business in 2021. In 2022, cofounder Reed Hastings predicted that Netflix would eventually "be a big leader in games." And the company has frequently pointed out its ambitions in its quarterly updates to investors.

Last quarter, for instance, the company highlighted a new World Cup game, and an app for kids games, and said it had "increasing confidence that we are building a foundation with exciting future growth potential."

It has also spent the last two quarters talking up its move into podcasts. In April, it said podcasts were a "potential incremental engagement opportunity." Three months later, it told investors that podcasts were good because they gave viewers more reasons to watch the service during the day (as opposed to the evening, where half of its viewing happens) and on mobile phones.

But on Tuesday, it had nothing to say about either category, other than a single legalese mention about forward-looking statements. But it did make a reference to other people's video games: It said a 27-minute trailer for Take-Two's highly anticipated "Grand Theft Auto VI," which it showed exclusively for a six-hour window, had been a hit.

Both games and podcasts make a certain kind of sense for Netflix, in theory: The company has often talked about the fact that gaming is a big competitor for its viewers' time. So why not try to harvest some of that attention for itself? And video podcasts are really just another term for "talk shows on a budget" — so why not offer those up to viewers as well?

The flip side: It's been hard to understand how Netflix would be able to create games that are better or more popular than everyone else in the game business. And it's an open question whether viewers who turn to Netflix in search of distracting entertainment would be interested in low-fi chats.

Maybe both categories eventually turn into something meaningful for Netflix one day. But the company seems to be saying that won't happen anytime soon.