The Last of Us season 2 sees the post-apocalyptic HBO video game adaptation returning for more drama in the near future.
The Last of Us season 1 was a big hit in 2023 — we called it one of the best TV shows of that year. An adaptation of Naughty Dog's 2013 PlayStation game, it followed Joel (Pedro Pascal), a middle-aged smuggler who was tasked with escorting Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across the US and into the hands of the Fireflies. This is no easy task, as the world is over a decade into a global pandemic caused by the Cordyceps fungus which has transformed millions into zombie-like creatures. It won eight Primetime Emmy Awards (from 24 nominations) and was acclaimed for its performances, worldbuilding and visual presentation. With all that buzz, it's no wonder the show's coming back for more.
We don't have too many details about The Last of Us season 2 just yet, but here's everything we know about The Last of Us season 2 right now.
The Last of Us season 2 release date
There is no exact release date for The Last of Us season 2 at this time, though HBO has said that it is going to premiere sometime in 2025.
The first season debuted on January 15, 2023, and HBO has tried to have big series premiere to help kick of the year (True Detective season 4 did that in 2024), but we'll just have to wait and see if that's what happens with The Last of Us season 2.
The Last of Us of airs on HBO and streams on Max in the US; the former is a premium cable channel available through traditional pay-TV providers and live TV streaming services (Sling TV, DirecTV and YouTube TV), while you can sign up for Max as a standalone service or now as a bundle with Disney Plus and Hulu. In the UK, the show airs on Sky TV's Sky Atlantic channel.
The Last of Us season 2 plot
Here is the official synopsis for The Last of Us season 2:
"After five years of peace following the events of the first season, Joel and Ellie's collective past catches up to them, drawing them into conflict with each other and a world even more dangerous and unpredictable than the one they left behind."
If you're curious for more, The Last of Us season 2 is, unsurprisingly, going to draw from the video game's second installment, The Last of Us Part 2.
The game picks up a few years after the end of The Last of Us' first installment (major spoilers incoming), which concluded with Joel deciding to take Ellie from the Fireflies, preventing them from operating on her to try and develop a Cordyceps cure. He takes her to the settlement in Jackson, Wyoming, where Joel's brother Tommy is living. Several years on from that climactic decision, the pair have settled into life in the community.
Out on a patrol, Tommy and Joel save a stranger (Abby) from the infected. Unbeknownst to them, Abby is an ex-Firefly and a member of the Washington Liberation Front, and she wants him dead for murdering her father at their base. Ellie and Dina head out in search of the pair and enter the outpost in time to watch Abby brutally beat Joel to death. Tommy and Ellie are spared and swear to get their revenge on Abby for what she did. The game then sees how Abby and Ellie's stories intertwine, fuelled by that vendetta.
It's a long and brutal game, and one with tons to unpack. To make sure the TV adaptation does the game justice, it's been made clear that the team won't be trying to cram the entire plot of the first game into one series... though we don't know how many more seasons they plan to make.
Speaking to GQ, Druckmann said, "It's more than one season", with Mazin adding: "You have noted correctly that we will not say how many, but more than one is factually correct."
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Mazin did let on that, as with the first season, they'll be making some changes to the story. "Sometimes it will be different radically, and sometimes it will be [barely] different at all", he said. "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".
If those changes have you starting to worry, don't. Chairman and CEO of HBO and Max Content, Casey Bloys has read five scripts for The Last of Us season 2, and he likes what he's seen.
"It's great", Bloys said. "It is bigger, gets into questions of retribution and revenge, it follows the video game but has big themes, big action. Craig, Neil, and the team are doing a spectacular job".
The Last of Us season 2 cast
Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey's Joel and Ellie are the heart and soul of The Last Of Us, and the pair are reprising their roles for the new series.
New additions to the cast have also been revealed for The Last of Us season 2. The biggest newcomer of the bunch is Kaitlyn Dever (Dopesick, No One Will Save You). She has joined to play Abby, who fans of the game will know was a huge part of the second game. HBO has described her as "a skilled soldier whose black-and-white view of the world is challenged as she seeks vengeance for those she loved."
Of her inclusion, Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann said in a statement: "Our casting process for season two has been identical to season one: we look for world-class actors who embody the souls of the characters in the source material. Nothing matters more than talent, and we're thrilled to have an acclaimed performer like Kaitlyn join Pedro, Bella and the rest of our family”
In addition to Dever, Beef star Young Mazino is joining the cast as Jesse, a young man who was part of the settlement in Jackson, Wyoming, where Joel and Ellie settled. He is described as "a pillar of the community who puts everyone else's needs before his own, sometimes at terrible cost."
The other major addition to The Last of Us season 2 cast is Isabella Merced (Transformers: The Last Knight, Dora and the Lost City of Gold). She's playing Dina, another member of the Jackson community. She's Ellie's partner (and Jesse's ex-girlfriend), and she plays a pivotal role in Ellie's story throughout the second game.
Of Merced's casting, Mazin and Druckmann said: "Dina is warm, brilliant, wild, funny, moral, dangerous and instantly lovable. You can search forever for an actor who effortlessly embodies all of those things, or you can find Isabela Merced right away."
Also new to the show are Catherine O'Hara (Schitt's Creek, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice), playing an as yet unknown role; Danny Ramariez (Top Gun: Maverick) as Manny, a loyal soldier whose sunny outlook belies the pain of old wounds and a fear that he will fail his friends when they need him most; Ariela Barer (How to Blow Up a Pipeline) as Mel, a young doctor whose commitment to saving lives is challenged by the realities of war and tribalism; Tati Gabrielle (You) as Nora, a military medic struggling to come to terms with the sins of her past; Spencer Lord (Riverdale) as Owen, a gentle soul trapped in a warrior's body, condemned to fight an enemy he refuses to hate; and Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction) as Isaac, the quietly powerful leader of a large militia group, known in the video game as the Washington Liberation Front, which Wright actually voiced in the game.
As for returning characters, we'd expect Gabriel Luna to return as Tommy for the sophomore season, given how he's a key figure in the second game. It's also possible we'll be seeing Merle Dandridge reprise the role of Marlene, seeing as her character appeared in flashbacks during The Last of Us Part 2.
The Last of Us season 2 trailer
The first official teaser trailer for The Last of Us season 2 is here, giving fans there first look at popular video game characters like Abby and what else lies in store for Joel and Ellie this season. Watch the trailer directly below:
