New episodes of season 2 of The Last of Us are premiering on HBO every Sunday night, and Ars’ Kyle Orland (who’s played the games) and Andrew Cunningham (who hasn’t) will be talking about them here every Monday morning. While these recaps don’t delve into every single plot point of the episode, there are obviously heavy spoilers contained within, so go watch the episode first if you want to go in fresh.
Kyle: To start us off as we return to the world of The Last of Us, as a non-game player, maybe recap what you remember from the first season and what you’ve heard about the second.
Andrew: Going into the first season, I’d been aware of The Last of Us, the video game, as a story about an older guy and a kid trying to navigate a post-apocalyptic world. And the show was also mostly that: It’s Joel and Ellie against the world, and who knows, maybe this spunky young girl with an apparent immunity to the society-ravaging fungal infection could hold the key to a cure!
Things fell apart at the end of last season when the Fireflies (a group of survivalists/doctors/scientists/etc.) may or may not have been threatening to kill Ellie in order to research their cure, which made Joel go on a murder rampage, which he then lied to Ellie about. We fade to black as they make their way back toward the one semi-functioning human settlement they’d visited on their travels, where Joel’s brother and his family also happen to live.
Going into this season: I know nothing. I don’t really engage in TV show fandoms or keep up with casting announcements or plot speculation. And the only thing I know about the second game going into this is a vague sense that it wasn’t as well-received as the first. In short, I am as a newborn baby, ready to take in the second season of a show I kind of like with the freshest possible eyes.
Kyle: I may be to blame for that vague sense you have. I fell in love with the first game, especially the relationship between Joel and Ellie, and I thought the first season of the show captured that quite well. I thought the endings to both the game and season 1 of the show were just about perfect and that any continuation after that was gonna struggle to justify itself.
Without giving too much away, I think the second game misses a lot of what made the narrative of the first one special and gets sidetracked in a lot of frankly gratuitous directions. That said, this premiere episode of the second season drew me in more than I expected.
One jarring thing (in a good way) about both the second game and the second season is suddenly seeing Joel and Ellie just existing in a thriving community with electric lights, music, alcohol, decent food, laughter, etc., etc. After the near-constant precarity and danger they’ve faced in the recent past, it really throws you for a loop.
Andrew: Unfortunately but predictably, you see both of them struggling to adapt in different ways; these are two extremely individualistic, out-for-number-one people. Ellie (now a 19-year-old, after a five-year time jump) never met a rule she couldn’t break, even when it endangers her friends and other community members.
And while Joel will happily fix your circuit breaker or re-string your guitar, he emphatically rejected a needs-of-the-many-outweigh-the-needs-of-the-few approach at the end of last season. When stuff breaks bad (and I feel confident that it will, that’s the show that it is) these may not be the best people to have in your corner.
My only real Game Question for you at the outset is the big one: Is season 2 adapting The Last of Us Part II or is it doing its own thing or are we somewhere in between or is it too early to say?
“Oh, dang, is that Catherine O’Hara?”
Kyle: From what I have heard it will be adapting the first section of the second game (it’s a long game) and making some changes and digressions that expand on the game’s story (like the well-received Nick Offerman episode last season). Already, I can tell you that Joel’s therapy scene was created for the TV show, and I think it improves on a somewhat similar “Joel pours his heart out” scene from early in the game.
The debut episode is also already showing a willingness to move around scenes from the game to make them fit better in chronological order, which I’m already appreciating.
One thing I think the show is already doing well, too, is showing 19-year-old Ellie “acting like every 19-year-old ever” (as one character puts it) to father figure Joel. Even in a zombie apocalypse, it’s a relatable bit of character-building for anyone who’s been a teenager or raised a teenager.
Andrew: Joel’s therapist, played by the wonderful Catherine O’Hara. (See, that’s why you don’t follow casting announcements, so you can watch a show and be like, “Oh, dang, is that Catherine O’Hara?”)
I didn’t know if it was a direct adaptation, but I did notice that the show’s video gamey storytelling reflexes were still fully intact. We almost instantly end up in a ruined grocery store chock-full of environmental storytelling (Ellie notes a happy birthday banner and 2003’s Employee of the Year wall).
And like in any new game new season of a TV show, we quickly run into a whole new variant of mushroom monster that retains some of its strategic instincts and can take cover rather than blindly rushing at you. Some of the jump scares were so much like quick-time events that I almost grabbed my controller so I could press X and help Ellie out.
After a two-year hiatus, The Last of Ustriumphantly returns for its second season on Sunday night.
The Last of Us season 2, episode 1 premieres at 9 p.m. ET/PT on April 13. The episode, Future Days, will air on HBO and stream on Max. The second season will consist of seven episodes airing every Sunday night, with the finale on May 25.
Season 2 will adapt The Last of Us Part II, the second video game in the franchise by Naughty Dog for PlayStation. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey return in their Emmy-nominated roles of Joel and Ellie. Per HBO, five years after the events of season 1, “Joel and Ellie are drawn into conflict with each other and a world even more dangerous and unpredictable than the one they left behind.” Joel’s decision to save Ellie in season 1 has changed the course of humanity and will be a driving force in season 2’s storyline.
Season 2’s returning cast includes Gabriel Luna as Tommy, Joel’s younger brother, and Rutina Wesley as Maria, Tommy’s wife and co-leader of the Jackson community.
The biggest addition to the season 2 cast is Kaitlyn Dever as Abby, a woman who seeks vengeance for the loss of a loved one. Other new additions include Isabela Merced as Dina, Young Mazino as Jesse, Ariela Barer as Mel, Tati Gabrielle as Nora, Spencer Lord as Owen, Danny Ramirez as Manny, and Jeffrey Wright as Isaac. Catherine O’Hara will appear as a guest star.
The Last of Us season 1 became a ratings sensation for HBO, becoming the second-largest debut behind House of the Dragon since 2010. The Last of Us season 2 trailer garnered 158 million global views across platforms in its first three days to become HBO and Max Original’s most-watched trailer during that period.
Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann write and executive produce The Last of Us. HBO has already renewed the hit series for season 3.
When compared to Nintendo franchises, it might feel like PlayStation hasn’t been around all that long. But the PS1 came out 30 years ago and each console generation has had new and better exclusive games as Sony has built and acquired more first-party studios. There aren’t as many franchises that have lasted as long as, say, Mario or Zelda, but they have had a huge impact on the industry and its players. Most of the best PS5 games are all tentpole PlayStation franchises, and the most exciting upcoming PS5 games are new installments in these beloved series. Looking back at every exclusive franchise, both active and retired, which ones remain the best? We’ve dusted off all the old systems to rank every major PlayStation franchise.
10. Killzone
Guerilla Games
PlayStation had a few great shooters but only one was marketed to go head-to-head with the juggernaut that was Halo. In the end, the Killzone games couldn’t dethrone Master Chief as the king of console FPS but it did earn itself a dedicated fanbase. The series stood out for its dark story about a war between the Interplanetary Strategic Alliance and the Helghan Empire, who are rebelling after being exiled to a nearly inhospitible planet. There are clear Nazi influences in the ideology and appearance of the Helghast, but the glowing red eyes have become a symbol all their own. The shooting was always good, though never much more than standard, and the story, despite getting four mainline games and two spinoffs, never managed to catch on.
9. Resistance
Insomniac
There’s an argument to be made that Killzone was more popular than Resistance, but we firmly believe the latter had better games. Coming from Insomniac Games, known for their creativity with games like Ratchet & Clank, these shooters didn’t stick to the traditional firearms. Sure, there are machine guns, pistols, and snipers, but each gun has a little twist to it to feel more unique. The story of an alternate history where an alien species known as the Chimera appears in the 1950s is a fantastic blending of both historical and sci-fi shooter elements. Unlike Killzone, Resistance does a better job of establishing characters and stakes within its fascinating world. Each game builds upon the last mechanically, with the final game ending with tons of questions unanswered that we may never get closure on.
8. Sly Cooper
Sucker Punchj
The PS2 was jam-packed with amazing 3D platformers. Even if you only look at PlayStation exclusives, competition was high so a series like Sly Cooper had to offer something special to stand out as more than just another mascot platformer. And stand out it did. By going with a cell-shaded look and using comic book panel cutscenes to craft a deceptively dark story of a master thief, Sly appealed to a huge audience. And the games only got better after the first one by expanding on the roster of theives, special sneaking abilities, and complexity of the heists that were so satisfying to pull off after so much prep work and character building.
7. Jak & Daxter
Nauty Dog
The Jak series started off safe enough as a solid collect-a-thon in a unique world with quippy characters but quickly pivoted into something much different. The series was still a 3D platformer, but the second went with a much darker tone, an open world, and a heavier focus on combat. Jak 3 made another shift to something almost Mad Max-like, but through it all somehow stayed fun and coherent. This series exemplifies developer Naughty Dog’s evolution into the studio it would become. It isn’t the best the team has done, but it is fondly remembered.
6. Ratchet and Clank
Insomniac
Of all the major PS2 franchises, Ratchet not only had the most games but also the strongest lineup. Where Jak and Sly both petered out, Ratchet is still PlayStation’s premier game for kids and young adults while still being a blast for all ages. The games are more iterative than most, mainly experimenting with new weapons and abilities, but the core third-person shooting and platforming through contained worlds is expertly tuned. Each game oozes charm, from the environments and characters to the wacky weapons. They’re just pure and simple fun, which is not as common as we would like from PlayStation.
5. Horizon
PlayStation Studios
There’s potential for Horizon to get much higher on this list, but it sits in the middle for now because it only has two proper entries so far. Still, what an impressive first two games it has. After only making Killzone games for decades, Guerilla Games made a big swing into open-world RPGs with Horizon: Zero Dawn and knocked it out of the park. It would’ve done well enough on the premise alone of fighting robot dinosaurs with primitive weaponry, but lore justification for why the world has become the way it is is a very compelling mystery to unravel. The sequel has some of the best graphics on PS5, more enemies, and even more twists in the story we’re eager to see wrapped up in the final chapter.
4. God of War
Sony Santa Monica
If the series ended after the original trilogy (plus a few spinoffs), God of War probably would still crack the top 10 just for being a cathartic power fantasy. However, it was with God of War in 2018 and its sequel that the franchise became something special. It managed to humanize a character who was previously defined only by his rage by tying it into his insecurities. It is a masterful character study and a complete revitalization for what would’ve been a one-note franchise. The fact that it is so touching and personal while still featuring some of the most visually stunning set pieces and cinematography shows the best of what our medium has to offer.
3. Marvel’s Spider-Man
Sony Interactive Entertainment
There have been dozens of Spider-Man games before it, but only Marvel’s Spider-Man feels like it can stand on its own among the comics and movies. The smartest decision the first game made was to forgo the easy option of being yet another origin story and dive right into this new take on the Spider-Man mythos. It pays plenty of tribute to the character’s long history but also isn’t afraid to defy expectations and use characters in new ways. In the end, it is the gameplay that has made this game a universal hit. Swinging through the city is euphoric when mastered, and the combat takes full advantage of what makes Spider-Man Spider-Man.
2. The Last of Us
Naughty Dog / Naughty Dog
The cultural impact of The Last of Us is something rarely seen. Even before it was adapted into a huge HBO hit, this game had pierced into the mainstream consciousness. With the show drawing even more eyes to the source material, these two games might be the most well-known PlayStation franchise of all time. But just being known isn’t enough to make our list — it has to be exceptional. Of course, being placed here, it is. There are almost no blemishes to be found here. Everything from the acting, writing, pacing, and gameplay is in service of strengthening a core thesis. However, the darkness explored in these games can be too much for some.
1. Uncharted
Sony
Why does Uncharted slip in above The Last of Us? For us, it has all the same strengths as Naughty Dog’s other major franchise but without the potentially overbearing darkness. Uncharted can get dark, but it is also light, bombastic, thrilling, and funny. It is a world and characters you love spending time with in the moment. Plus, it lets us live out our fantasies of being a treasure hunter, solving ancient puzzles, and surviving unbelievable catastrophes by the skin of our teeth. It does all that while still having heart and feeling grounded.
The Last of Us season 3 is official. HBO has renewed the hit series for a third season ahead of the season 2 premiere.
The news should not come as a surprise, considering the popularity of The Last of Us season 1. The series premiere drew 4.7 million viewers across linear and HBO Max platforms, the second-largest debut since 2010 behind House of the Dragon.The Last of Us consistently grew its audience during the eight-episode first season, with 8.2 million viewers tuning in for the season 1 finale.
“We approached season two with the goal of creating something we could be proud of,” said The Last of Us co-creator Craig Mazin. “The end results have exceeded even our most ambitious goals, thanks to our continued collaboration with HBO and the impeccable work of our unparalleled cast and crew. We look forward to continuing the story of The Last of Us with season three!”
Mazin’s co-creator, Neil Druckmann, added, “To see The Last of Us brought to life so beautifully and faithfully has been a career highlight for me, and I am grateful for the fans’ enthusiastic and overwhelming support.”
The Last of Us season 2 picks up five years after the events of the first season, as Pedro Pascal’s Joel and Bella Ramsey’s Ellie are “drawn into conflict with each other and a world even more dangerous and unpredictable than the one they left behind.”
Season 2’s returning cast features Gabriel Luna as Tommy and Rutina Wesley as Maria. New additions include Kaitlyn Dever as Abby, Isabela Merced as Dina, Young Mazino as Jesse, Ariela Barer as Mel, Tati Gabrielle as Nora, Spencer Lord as Owen, Danny Ramirez as Manny, and Jeffrey Wright as Isaac. Catherine O’Hara appears as a guest star.
The Last of Us season 2 premieres at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Sunday, April 13, on HBO and Max. Season 2 will consist of seven episodes.
The pressure is on for The Last of Us showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann to raise the bar in season 2. How will the duo improve upon season 1, which is regarded as one of the best video game adaptations ever?
Druckmann, who also created the video game franchise, won’t let external forces, including fan reaction, influence his decision-making.
“I’ve said this before, but I feel like the best way we could respect our fans and honor them is to not worry about them when we’re crafting the thing because outside influence or pressure doesn’t lead you to good creative choices,” Druckmann said in an interview with GamesRadar+.
Season 2 is already under the microscope as fans eagerly await how Druckmann and Mazin will adapt The Last of Us Part II. Several storylines, including one with Joel and Abby, can derail the show if incorrectly handled. Druckmann trusts the process he established with Mazin and will make decisions that will make for a successful television show, not a video game.
“Craig and I are just very meticulous in how we interrogate every moment, every creative choice, and kind of look at all the options in front of us to make sure we’re picking, as Craig likes to say, ‘the correct one,’” Druckmann said. “And it’s a correct one for The Last of Us in this medium, which wouldn’t necessarily be the same correct one for The Last of Us in the video game format.”
The Last of Us season 2 stars Pedro Pascal as Joel, Bella Ramsey as Ellie, Gabriel Luna as Tommy, and Rutina Wesley as Maria. New additions include Kaitlyn Dever as Abby, Isabela Merced as Dina, Young Mazino as Jesse, Ariela Barer as Mel, Tati Gabrielle as Nora, Spencer Lord as Owen, Danny Ramirez as Manny, and Jeffrey Wright as Isaac. Catherine O’Hara also guest stars.
The Last of Us season 2 premieres at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Sunday, April 13. It will air on HBO and stream on Max.
There’s a lot of great TV coming in April 2025. You’ll find new shows like Hulu’s Dying for Sex and Apple TV+’s Government Cheese along with returning shows like Doctor Who (Disney+, April 12), Godfather of Harlem (MGM+, April 13), and You (Netflix, April 24). It’s going to be a busy month for TV lovers!
All the aforementioned shows are worthy of being added to your watchlist this month. However, the five shows below are so exciting that you won’t want to miss the episodes when they release. They include four returning shows, one for its final season after a 2.5-year hiatus, and a brand-new series starring Jon Hamm.
It has been more than 2.5 years since The Handmaid’s Taledelivered its fifth season, and the story is finally ending with the sixth and final season this month. The story, based on the Margaret Atwood novel of the same name, takes place in a dystopian future whereby a theocratic regime has taken over, forcing child-bearing women to serve as handmaids for the infertile wives of wealthy commanders. June (Elisabeth Moss) is desperate to escape and get back to her husband and her daughter, and she eventually leads the charge for a revolt.
By season 5, June has escaped to Canada, but she remains traumatized by her experiences and hellbent on revenge. Plus, the folks in Gilead aren’t satisfied with letting her get off that easily. The stakes are raised higher as June ends up with Serena (Yvonne Strahovski) and baby Nichole, both fleeing, while Luke (O-T Fagbenie) lets himself get arrested so she can get to safety. The story in The Handmaid’s Tale has long since diverted from Atwood’s writings that inspired the first season, leaving fans guessing as to where it ends. But like Atwood’s heartwrenching story, The Handmaid’s Tale is a deeply troubling tale about societal downfall into oppression and cruelty masked by religion.
Earning several Primetime Emmy Awards through its three-season run to date, Hacks is back for season 4. The story centers around Deborah Vance (Jean Smart), a stand-up comedian looking to reinvent her act for modern times. She is paired with young comedy writer Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder) to help. Despite coming from completely different generations of comedy, Deborah and Ava become a formidable pairing.
With an almost a perfect Rotten Tomatoes critics score, Hacks is one of those shows worth binge-watching. Both leads deliver fantastic performances with amazing chemistry. The guest cast keeps you consistently entertained with the eclectic mix of personalities, including Julianne Nicholson, Michaela Watkins, and Eric Balfour.
Sometimes, wasteful extravagance isn’t really noticed until you no longer have the means to partake. This is the situation with Andrew “Coop” Cooper (Jon Hamm) in Your Friends and Neighbors. He’s a hedge fund manager whose life is upended after losing his job. Due to murky contract stipulations, he can’t work in the field again for the foreseeable future. With two teenage kids, a mortgage on a house he no longer even lives in, and other struggles, the mounting bills and the personal toll everything is taking on Coop aren’t just going to disappear. The walls are closing in on him. One day, however, he gets a ridiculous idea: his elitist friends have so much more money and material things than they know what to do with. Would they really miss it if he stole a thing or two?
Naturally, Coop’s actions start to get out of hand, and every move he makes opens another Pandora’s Box of problems. Your Friends and Neighbors is as much a story about a man’s descent into darkness as it is a wake-up call about greed and excess, told through Coop’s inner monologue narration. It’s when you do everything right and think you have it all that you lose sight of what’s actually important. Your Friends and Neighbors is arguably one of Hamm’s best roles since Don Draper in Mad Men, bringing you back to the suave, businessman swagger for which he first became known.
It’s finally here. After an almost two-year wait, The Last of Us is back this month with its second season. Based on the Naughty Dog video game franchise of the same name, our reviewer calls it the “most faithful video game adaptation that has ever been produced.” Pedro Pascal returns as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie, an unlikely smuggler and teenager duo navigating the post-apocalyptic, virally infected wasteland together. Adapting the story from The Last of Us Part II, season 2 is set five years later as the pair continue their journey.
They encounter new people, and tensions run high. That’s especially so given that, based on the trailer, Ellie presumably learns about that big lie Joel told her to save her life. Earning eight Primetime Emmy Awards for its first season (of an impressive 24 nominations), The Last of Us has been one of the most anticipated show returns this year.
It’s only going to run for two seasons, and fans have waited almost three years for the return of Andor, one of many new shows within the Star Wars universe. As a prequel to Rogue One, Diego Luna stars as Cassian Andor, with the first season focusing on telling the story of his journey to becoming a revolutionary. Our reviewer calls it a “thoughtful, slow-developing story.” Season two chronicles the next four years in his life, leading up to the events in Rogue One, another prequel to 1977’s Star Wars.
Follow Andor as he goes from thief to a core member of the Rebel Alliance, who fights back against the Galactic Empire. Season 1 received universal acclaim and three Primetime Emmy Awards. Season two is poised to be a fitting end to the compelling story that technically marks the beginning point of this massive franchise.
Starring Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal, the show primarily takes place 20 years after the cordyceps fungus evolves to infect humans, generating hordes of aggressive creatures. Joel (Pascal), a smuggler whose daughter died during the initial outbreak, is tasked with escorting Ellie (Ramsey), an orphan who’s seemingly immune to the fungus, across the country in hopes of developing a cure.
The show earned both Pascal and Ramsey nominations at the Golden Globes and Emmy Awards and turned them into household names. It also featured an award-winning performance from Nick Offerman, who stars alongside Murray Bartlett in the season’s acclaimed third episode “Long, Long Time.“
A second season of the HBO hit is nearly here, and it’s set to adapt part of the game “The Last of Us Part II.”
Here’s everything we know about the new season.
Kirsten Acuna contributed to a previous version of this article, which was first published in January 2024.
‘The Last of Us’ season 2 will premiere on April 13, 2025
On March 9, HBO released a full trailer that announced season two will premiere on April 13, 2025. The footage gave fans a better idea of what to expect from the show’s sophomore season, including a large-scale battle in the snow against a horde of the infected.
The trailer was watched 22 million times in 48 hours, which indicates that anticipation is high for the series.
HBO previously released a trailer on “The Last of Us” day in September, showing Joel and Ellie — as per usual — in distress.
Season two will have seven episodes, which Mazin described as “high-calorie” and “dense” in a February 2025 Entertainment Weekly interview. It will also include deleted material that wasn’t included in “The Last of Us Part II.”
There will likely be a time jump — and season 2 won’t cover all of ‘The Last of Us Part II’
In an interview with Josh Horowitz on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast in February 2023, Ramsey said that while they were playing a 14-year-old Ellie in the first season of “The Last of Us,” Ellie would be closer to their own age in season two.
“I’ll be 20, probably by the time we shoot that, and I’ll be playing 19,” Ramsey said. “So yeah, I will be closer to my age.”
Bella Ramsey as Ellie in “The Last of Us.”
Liane Hentscher/HBO
Showrunner Craig Mazin also spoke about the possibility of a time jump with Collider, and said that there won’t be any recasting as a result.
“Obviously, the time jump is important, to some extent,” Mazin said. “It reflects the changing nature of Ellie’s relationship with Joel, as she gets older.”
While “TLOU” season one covered the events of the 2013 game, the second season will not cover all of its 2020 sequel.
Series co-creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, who also created the game series, told GQ in March 2023 that the events of the second game will take place over “more than one season.”
HBO has yet to renew the show for a third season. Mazin told EW in February, however, that he thinks it’s “pretty likely” that the show has enough story material to carry it at least into a fourth season.
“We have a plan,” Druckmann told EW. “We know what we need to do going forward, but we couldn’t tell you right now exactly how many episodes or how many seasons it would take to get there.”
There are new cast members in season 2
Kaitlyn Dever will play Abby, a controversial character in “The Last of Us” video game franchise.
Gilbert Flores/WWD via Getty Images)
In January 2024, HBO announced three major season two castings.
Dever will play Abby, the second protagonist of “The Last of Us Part II” and a playable character in the game. She’s a member of the Fireflies and is driven by her desire for revenge.
While Mazin and Druckmann remain tight-lipped about the details of Abby’s character, Druckmann confirmed to EW that her physicality won’t be as strongly emphasized in the series compared to the game. In simpler terms: she won’t be as buff.
“I personally think that there is an amazing opportunity here to delve into someone who is perhaps physically more vulnerable than the Abby in the game, but whose spirit is stronger,” Mazin told EW. “And then the question is, ‘Where does her formidable nature come from and how does it manifest?’ That’s something that will be explored now and later.”
“Alien: Romulus” star Isabela Merced was cast as Dina, Ellie’s love interest and eventual traveling companion who she gets to know in the Jackson settlement.
And Young Mazino, a breakout star of the Netflix limited series “Beef,” will play Jesse, Dina’s ex and a community leader in Jackson.
Young Mazino will play Jesse in season two of “The Last of Us.”
Elyse Jankowski/Variety via Getty Images; PlayStation/YouTube
In March 2024, Max announced four more additions to the cast. Danny Ramirez will play Manny, Ariela Barer will play Mel, Tati Gabrielle will play Nora, and Spencer Lord will play Owen. The four characters are friends of Abby’s from the Seattle settlement.
HBO also announced in May 2024 that Jeffrey Wright (“American Fiction”) would reprise his role from the games and play Isaac, the leader of the Washington Liberation Front, in season two. Per Entertainment Weekly, HBO describes Isaac as “the quietly powerful leader of a large militia group who sought liberty but instead has become mired in an endless war against a surprisingly resourceful enemy.”
Catherine O’Hara of “Schitt’s Creek” also appears in season two, and can be seen in a trailer acting as a counselor or therapist to Joel.
Druckmann told EW in February that there’s still another high-profile casting that’s yet to come.
“There is a pretty prominent character that is talked a lot about in the game, similar to what we did with Frank in season 1, that is in this season,” he said. “There’s a very, very cool casting that I hope we can talk about soon.”
Fans are concerned Joel could die in season 2
Joel (Pedro Pascal) cradles Ellie (Bella Ramsey) in the season one finale of “The Last of Us.”
Liane Hentscher/HBO
“The Last of Us Part II” video game is controversial among fans because Joel is unexpectedly and brutally murdered by Abby toward the start of the sequel when his past catches up with him.
TV-Joel’s fate is the question on every fan’s mind since it’s the major jumping-off point of the sequel game. Even Pascal has said his character’s death is a possibility in season two.
Pedro Pascal as Joel on season one of “The Last of Us.”
Liane Hentscher/HBO
“It wouldn’t make sense to follow the first game so faithfully only to stray severely from the path,” Pascal told Esquire in April 2023.
“If that does take place in the show, I don’t know that I’m emotionally ready for it,” he added.
However, Mazin told Entertainment Weekly in 2023 that fans can expect some changes from the sequel game in season two, saying, “It’s going to be different, and it will be its own thing. It won’t be exactly like the game.”
Maybe that means there’s a chance Joel could live, or at least make it to the end of season two, due to Pascal’s immense popularity.
Since the second game became controversial, it’s likely the show may flesh out Abby’s character more before killing Joel off, if the show decides to go that route. But it would be difficult to envision season two straying from Joel’s death entirely since it’s the key motivation for Ellie’s path in the sequel game.
There will be more infected
One of the infected.
Liane Hentscher/HBO
In the game, players constantly outmaneuver and kill many of the people who have been infected and taken over by the cordyceps virus. Though the infected show up in a few key scenes, they weren’t a main fixture of season one, which placed a large emphasis on character relationships and world-building.
“It’s quite possible that there will be a lot more infected later. And perhaps different kinds,” Mazin said during a press conference for the finale in 2023.
On HBO’s “The Last of Us” podcast in 2023, Mazin added that season two will likely further explore the idea of the Cordyceps hive mind and how they can be a major threat together.
“I think this next season, the interconnectivity of them, and the risk of stepping on the wrong thing, that stuff is going to be brought forward more for sure,” Mazin said.
