During the years between television series, a television executive who has worked on shows like The Boys and The Last of Us lashes out. Season 1 of The Last of Us, which is based on the video game Naughty Dog of the same name, debuted in early 2023.

Although the release date for season two has not yet been set, viewers might anticipate the show in early 2025, which would be a two-year break. There is a two-year lag between seasons three and four of The Boys, which has four seasons to date.

Speaking at the Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo market (via The Times), Sony Pictures Television president Katherine Pope voices her thoughts on the long gaps between TV seasons. According to the executive, “long delays” between television seasons are “not fair to the fans“ and “so frustrating.” She expressed her personal woes about these gaps, describing sitting down at home and wondering “what happened last season.” Pope also described industry worries related to these gaps, saying “we can’t afford to lose fans.” Check out the full quote from Pope below:

It is so frustrating. Those long delays are just absolutely untenable and they are not fair to the fans.

I’ll sit down with my husband and we’ll be like: ‘OK, what happened last season?’. That experience of watching eight episodes then two years later getting another eight is just not good.

In such a saturated world, we can’t afford to lose fans. It is hard enough to get them.

What Pope’s Quote Means For The State Of Television

The Executive Holds Valid Criticism

Pope’s statement coincides with the long season breaks that the vast majority of non-network shows are currently facing. This issue affects almost all of the main streaming services. For example, the most current seasons of two of Netflix’s best-performing series, Stranger Things and Wednesday, will be separated by more than two years. One of the worst offenders on the Max side is House of the Dragon, which took two years to produce seasons one and two and isn’t anticipated to release season three until 2026.

Long gaps between seasons have not always been the case in television, and has been a growing problem in recent years. Looking at major mid-2000s shows like Lost and Breaking Bad, for example, audiences often did not even have to wait a full year for one season of a show to end and the next to begin. While months-long gaps left audiences in anticipation and waiting for more, the relatively quick turnaround time meant that these shows still seized viewers’ attention. As Pope worries, shows with gaps may be losing their audiences.

Our Take On Long Gaps In Between Seasons

I Am Anxiously Awaiting The Last of Us Season 2

I wholeheartedly concur with Pope without hesitation. I’m eagerly awaiting the next installment of The Last of Us, even if none of us would want our favorite shows to hurry a shoddy season. It certainly takes a lot of time to produce these expensive, graphically complex television programs. Major producers need to find a way to stop this tendency and get their episodes to viewers more quickly in order to prevent them from being frustrated again and over again, especially when cliffhangers like the House of the Dragon season 2 conclusion occur.