After what was a positively scintillating first season of television, fans worldwide – whether they have played the video games or not – have been chomping on the bit for the next instalment of The Last of Us, even in spite of what many know has yet to come, for better or for worse. Filming has now wrapped, and while its ambiguous 2025 release date is quite the wait, we have already been offered some tantalising pictures and footage, so let’s dive into what to expect for the upcoming season.
Part of what made The Last of Us such a resoundingly successful adaptation is its faithfulness to the source material, though showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann (who is also the creator of the video games) have not been afraid to make smart changes where necessary. This is best exemplified by the third episode, “Long, Long Time”, which turned Bill’s story into a stunning arc about finding love in a world gone to hell, with it not only being hailed by many as the best episode of the show, but also one of the greatest television episodes ever made, and rightfully so.
However, many who have played the games wonder just how much of The Last of Us Part II will be depicted in the adaptation’s second season, in particular that infamous scene where Abby murders Joel right in front of Ellie, which is such a deeply controversial moment that HBO had to hire extra security to ensure the safety of the actress playing Abby, Kaitlyn Dever. While this is the key event that kicks off the entire narrative in the second game, there’s plenty of reason to believe that Joel’s inevitable death will be handled differently in the TV show.
To begin with, Pedro Pascal, who plays Joel, is one of the biggest and most sought-after actors in the world, and those behind the show will likely want to keep him around for as long as possible, especially since it has been all but confirmed that the second game will span two seasons. This would also be done to placate fans of the show, but more so for those who have played the game, as Mazin and Druckmann have been notably astute at keeping their fingers on the pulse of the fan community and are incontrovertibly aware of the backlash to handling of this major moment in the game. As such, in the context of a TV show it would make much more sense, for both narrative and fandom purposes, to set in motion an arc for Joel that gradually builds towards his death in the last (or perhaps even second-to-last) episode, rather than unceremoniously killing him off in the first couple of episodes, consequently drawing overblown vitriol similar to when The Last of Us Part II released in 2020.
Of course, this is nothing more than speculation at the moment, as we won’t learn of Joel’s fate in season two until it actually airs next year, and we can certainly expect this to be one of the best kept secrets at HBO until then. What we do know, however, is the cast for this upcoming season.
In addition to seeing Joel and Ellie’s (Bella Ramsey) return, they’ll be joined once again by Joel’s brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) and his wife Maria (Rutina Wesley), who lead the community of Jackson, which is where our protagonists settled at the end of season one. New additions to the cast include Jackson residents pivotal to the second game’s story, such as Ellie’s love interest Dina (Isabela Merced) and her ex who also happens to be Ellie’s friend, Jesse (Young Mazino). Then, there are the members of the adversarial Washington Liberation Front (WLF), consisting of Manny (Danny Ramirez), Mel (Ariela Barer), Nora (Tati Gabrielle), Owen (Spencer Lord), WLF leader Isaac Dixon (played by Oscar nominee Jeffrey Wright, who also voiced Isaac in the video game), and of course Kaitlyn Dever’s antihero Abby.
A recent teaser from HBO gives us a generous glimpse of what’s to come this season for our protagonists, even offering brief glimpses at the likes of Dever, Merced, and Wright in their respective roles, not to mention a brief look at cultists of the Seraphites, while also hinting at some scenes from the game, namely the dinner dance in Jackson. Most intriguing of all, however, is the reveal of Catherine O’Hara’s character, who appears to be a wholly original creation for the show, and while her name and purpose has yet to be officially disclosed, the leading theory online is that she is something of a therapist for the Jackson community, as Joel seems to be speaking of his decision to save Ellie in season one’s finale.
We are still in for a relatively long wait before HBO’s The Last of Us will once again grace our screens, but the second season is already looking immensely promising, which is a great sign considering it is adapting one of the most divisive narratives in modern video games.