The Last of Us Part II

20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed, Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal heartbreaking journey as they both must traverse the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.

Set five years after The Last of Us (2013), the movie focuses on two characters in a post-apocalyptic United States whose lives intertwine: Ellie, who sets out in revenge for a murder, and Abby, a soldier who becomes involved in a conflict between her militia and a religious cult. Joel and Ellie must fight human enemies and cannibalistic zombie-like creatures with firearms, improvised weapons, and stealth.

How many seasons of The Last of Us will there be?

As of right now, The Last of Us has only officially been announced to have two seasons.

That being said, HBO’s Drama Chief Francesca Orsi told Deadline in May 2023 that a season three idea had been discussed. “But at this point,” she added, “we’re taking it one season at a time.”

“There’s no guarantee at this point that we’ll have a season three, but I know that they both have a vision for season three,” Orsi said, referencing the creators.

Co-creator Craig Mazin kept things coy when asked about the possible number of seasons in total, telling The Hollywood Reporter in August 2023: “You never know.”

“It can end up being three or five,” Mazin added. “But four seems like a good number.”

What he did confirm was that Part II’s story, which would inform season two of the small-screen adaptation, “does not fit into one season” — making it likely that it could spill into at least a third run.

Mazin also told Deadline that the plan is to go beyond a second season, but it depends entirely on ratings and audience appetite. “There’s more story, so this show will not end with season two unless people don’t watch it, and we’ll get cancelled,” he said.

One thing that seems to be clear is that the show will wrap when it’s supposed to rather than keep going for the sake of it.

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Discussing episode numbers, Mazin also said: “We will not indulge a desire for more simply to make them happier when they hear how many episodes are announced… And if they don’t like how many episodes are in a season because they want more, well, OK.

“But when all is said and done, I think the wisdom of how we lay it out will hopefully be clear. I don’t know if any season will actually have the same amount of episodes. But, whatever, the number’s not important. What’s important is when they get to the end of the season, they’re like, ‘That was a good season’.”

HBOThe Last of Us season 2 potential release date: When will it air?

Sadly, it doesn’t look like we’ll see anything new for quite some time.

During an interview for Entertainment Weekly‘s Awardist podcast in August 2023, show creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann confirmed they had mapped out all of season two.

Mazin also shared that, at that point, the first episode had been written and the script submitted.

So far, so exciting, right? But then the strikes began.

“I think it’s becoming essentially a near certainty that we won’t be able to start [filming] when we were hoping to start, which is upsetting,” Mazin said at the time (it was noted that the chat was organised in accordance with WGA guidelines). “We are all raring to go. This is what we are born to do.”

But even without the apparent delay presented by the strike action (which has now ended), leading star Bella Ramsey had previously stated (earlier in March 2023) that a second season would likely take a couple of years to complete anyway.

“I think we’ll probably shoot at the end of this year, beginning of next,” they revealed. “So it’ll probably be the end of 2024, early 2025.”

And sure enough, the most recent Last of Us season two update came via HBO boss Casey Bloys, who confirmed (on November 2, 2023) that production is expected to start in February 2024 (via Variety).

We’ll still be hoping for that early 2025 release, but there’s every chance it could come later that year.

HBOAdvertisement – Continue Reading BelowThe Last of Us season 2 cast: Who’s in it?

Pedro Pascal recently turned up to the Golden Globes (January 8, 2024) sporting a sling on his arm (which he explained happened in a fall), but it’s been reported (via Deadline) that the injury is not expected to delay season two’s production.

As the central characters around which the story unfolds, Joel and Ellie will of course be back for The Last of Us‘ second season.

When it comes to the rest of the season two cast though, things get a little trickier as a lot depends on how much of the source material is used and what season two will cover.

Talking about The Last of Us‘ debut season (via Consequence), Mazin confirmed: “The first season is the events of the first game. And if you have played the game, you can tell from watching the marketing materials that we’re also covering the events of the Left Behind DLC.”

True to form, we saw this play out with Ellie and Riley’s tragic love story during the events of episode seven in season one of the show. The first season intersected their scenes in the abandoned mall with scenes of Ellie trying to find medical supplies for an injured Joel.

Both events took place in The Last of Us: Left Behind, a downloadable expansion pack to the original game.

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Since both the first game and the add-on have now been featured in season one, that would tally with season two starting with some of the events of the second game, The Last of Us Part II.

This story once again featured Joel’s brother Tommy, who was played by Gabriel Luna in season one, so he’ll likely be back in season two in one way or another.

In terms of brand-new character introductions, we know that we are set to meet Abby Anderson in season two.

Craig Mazin previously teased that “Abby was the first role that we wanted to tackle” when it came to new actors to bring on board (via The Hollywood Reporter).

“We’ve got a pretty good track record of making major cast announcements and people going, ‘Really?’, which will probably continue,” he also teased.

Following much anticipation around who they could cast in that key role, it’s now been officially announced that it will be Kaitlyn Dever (Booksmart and No One Will Save You).

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More Last of Us season two cast news followed, with Young Mazino, star of Netflix’s Beef, confirmed to be taking the role of Jesse.

“Young is one of those rare actors who is immediately undeniable the moment you see him,” series co-creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann said in response to the announcement. “We’re so lucky to have him, and we can’t wait for the audience to see Young shine in our show.”

Ellie’s girlfriend, Dina, is also expected to appear in the show’s second run.

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Bella Ramsey has spoken fairly recently (November 29, 2023) about being “really excited” to bring this lesbian romance to our screens in season two after learning that their Last of Us character was involved in the first lesbian kiss in a video game.

“I remember seeing that [news] and being like: ‘That’s really cool’,” Bella told Pink News before adding: “I can’t wait to do that and to explore that story. It’s gonna be a lot of fun.”

As for the possibility of other returning characters from The Last of Us‘ first nine episodes, most of them didn’t make it out alive (spoilers follow if you’re yet to finish season one).

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Bill and Frank were among some of the most impactful, with their dedicated episode winning praise from both critics and viewers.

Nick Offerman, who played Bill, recently revealed that the possibility of him revisiting the character in some capacity “certainly has been pitched”.

“I think we pitched a whole mini-series of a prequel of their lives before they met each other,” he said, adding: “It could be a musical. We’re not short on ideas.”

Of course, Bill and Frank met a devastating end in season one. The same can be said for most of the others we met along Joel and Ellie’s way – including Tess (Anna Torv), Riley (Storm Reid), Sam (Keivonn Montreal Woodard), Henry (Lamar Johnson) and Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey).

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It sounds like the door has been left open for those faces to potentially pop up again in The Last of Us season two, particularly when it comes to flashbacks.

“There’s always a chance for everything,” Mazin confirmed to Deadline. “With us you never know, and we obviously don’t confine ourselves by timelines. People who are dead sometimes reappear, and sometimes we meet people that we didn’t even know, and then we find out that they are somebody.”

HBOHow old was Ellie in The Last of Us 2? Will Bella Ramsey return?

There was a five-year time jump between the two games, and it sounds like the show bosses are planning to follow this timeline.

In response to a minority of the fandom that held concerns surrounding Bella Ramsey’s initial casting as Ellie, particularly concerning the character’s age in the second season, showrunner and game creator Neil Druckmann wanted to “put this thing to rest” and commit to their decision-making.

“One of the things about the casting process that’s tough is that we invite people to join us on this process, and we know everything [about the secrets of the production] and nobody else knows anything except what they know, which is the game,” Mazin previously explained (via Entertainment Weekly).

“We know what we’re gonna do in terms of costume and makeup and hair, but more importantly, we also know the spirit and soul of the actor.”

Mazin also pointed out that Bella Ramsey is closer to the age Ellie was in the second video game.

Speaking of the actress who played Ellie in the video games, Druckmann added: “When we made the game, I felt we were incredibly lucky. It was like lightning in the bottle that we found Ashley Johnson, and I can’t imagine that version of Ellie being anybody else. And then somehow we got lightning in the bottle again with Bella.”

He went on to say that “the only way we would ever, ever consider re-casting Bella” is if Bella decided they didn’t want to work on the show anymore. And even then, Druckmann said, they might “force” Bella to “come back to season two” anyway.

HBOAdvertisement – Continue Reading BelowThe Last of Us season 2 plot: What will happen?

In terms of the storyline and direction of its second run, Mazin noted that The Last of Us season two will be decidedly different, in some places, from the Part II game.

“It will be different just as this season was different [from the first game],” he also said at the virtual press conference ahead of the season one finale.

“Sometimes it will be different radically, and sometimes it will be [barely] different at all. But it’s going to be different and it will be its own thing. It won’t be exactly like the game. It will be the show that Neil and I want to make…”

HBOThe Last of Us season 2 trailer: When can I watch it?

The second season of The Last of Us hasn’t yet gone into production, so it will be some time before new footage is available for a trailer.

We’ll be keeping you posted with all the latest news and updates for The Last of Us season two as we get them — including cast news, first-look images and teaser clips. So watch this space.

The Last of Us airs on HBO in the US and on Sky Atlantic and streaming service NOW in the UK.