New seasons of The White Lotus, The Last of Us, delayed due to strikes

A top TV executive has confirmed that several huge shows, loved by Aussies, have been delayed – some by as much as a year.

New seasons of The White Lotus, The Last of Us, delayed due to strikes.

A top TV executive has confirmed that a host of big name shows loved by Aussie audiences, some meant to air in just months, have been pushed back with a number not reaching our screens until late 2025.

At an event in New York on Thursday, US time, HBO chief executive Casey Bloys said new seasons of hits including The White Lotus and The Last of Us have been affected by the writers’ and then the actors’ strikes.

“We’ve had to adjust across the board,” he said at an event to launch HBO’s slate of 2024 programming.

Many of HBO’s shows air on Foxtel and Binge in Australia. But a raft of new programs, including season two of Games of Thrones’ spin off House of the Dragon, a fresh instalment of True Detective starring Jodie Foster, drama The Penguin from the DC Comics’ Batman universe and a comedy starring Kate Winslet as a rubbish dictator, will be on screens from the new year.

US actor Jennifer Coolidge has been lauded for her performances in The White Lotus. Picture: Frederic J. Brown / AFP

‘Had to adjust’

The double strikes have hit not just HBO but all major media companies with productions either brought to a halt or not starting at all.

Members of the Writers Guild of America went on strike from May to September. While the SAG-AFTRA actors’ strike began in July and is ongoing, holding up drama productions.

Mr Bloys said a spin off from the horror film It, called Welcome to Derry, had been delayed by a year.

“We had that scheduled for Halloween of ’24, but that’s likely pushing into ’25.”

The third season of White Lotus, the comedy-drama focused on the lives of self-centred tourists at high end holiday resorts, was pencilled in for next year but now has been pushed to 2025, he said.

Batman spin off The Penguin, starring an unrecognisable Colin Farrell in the lead role, will air in 2024 but later than planned.

“The Penguin would have been in spring so we’ve had to adjust across the board.”

The second series of smash hit computer game turned apocalyptic drama The Last of Us has also been moved.

Mr Bloys said production would now begin in the northern spring of 2024 but that would depend on the outcome of the actors strike. If it’s not resolved it could be delayed further.

“The Last of Us was one that was also affected by strikes and that would have been in pre-production already”.

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HBO chief Casey Bloys was speaking at an event in New York. Picture: Amy Sussman/Getty Images

Plenty of big shows for 2024

But despite the delays, a number of huge shows are ready or in post-production so shouldn’t be affected.

The biggest show on the HBO slate for 2024 is the return of House of the Dragon, set around 200 years before Game of Thrones.

It should air in early summer on Foxtel and Binge in Australia.

Mr Bloys told news.com.au it was one of the US firm’s biggest hits in Australia where around 1.25 million saw the first episode of season one.

“Australia is very important. It’s one of the biggest markets in the world so it’s a huge priority for us,” he added.

The Last of Us should have started production by now.

Dependent on the resolution of the SAG-AFTRA strike another GoT spin off A King of the Seven Kingdoms will start production early in 2024.

Adapting Martin’s Dunk and Egg novellas, it will be a prequel to GoT focusing on Sir Duncan the Tall and the future King Aegon V Targaryen.

“We always have Game of Thrones scripts, and ideas, in development,” said Mr Bloys.

The fourth season of crime anthology True Detective will air in January, five years after the third season wrapped up.

In True Detective: Night Country, double Academy Award winner Jodie Foster stars as Detective Liz Danvers who investigates the disappearance of eight men from an Alaska research station.

Robert Downy Jr, Sandra Oh and Australian actor Hoa Xuande – who has starred in Foxtel’s Top of the Lake: China Girl and SBS’ Hungry Ghost – will star in The Sympathiser.

The comedy drama is an adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name which takes place after the fall of Saigon when a communist North Vietnamese spy embeds himself with the South Vietnamese community in Los Angeles.

Kate Winslet takes a dark comedic turn in The Regime as a European dictator losing her grip on power.