It’s still going to be a while before the second season of HBO‘s The Last of Us breaks cover, but as 26th September is the official ‘The Last of Us Day‘ (chosen because it’s the day of the outbreak in the original game and the game’s creators Naughty Dog always try to do something special to mark the date), we now have our first proper look at some of the elements to come – courtesy of a new trailer.
“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…”
There’s tension, intrigue and hints but no massive spoilers for the new season (at least any pertaining to key plot-points of the game’s 2020 sequel, which was quite eventful for some of the original’s main characters), but we get to see a desolate Joel Miller (Pedro Pascal), an angry Ellie (Bella Ramsey), plenty of infected threats and a range of new characters. There’s Young Marino as ‘Jesse’, Ariela Barer as ‘Mel’, Spencer Lord as ‘Owen’ and veteran Jeffrey Wright reprising his role of ‘Isaac’ from the game. Catherine O’Hara is also appearing in a role that’s yet to be clarified (though it looks like Joel may be tee’ing up for some therapy).
However, the most consequential new faces are that of Isabella Merced as fellow traveller ‘Dina’ and Kaitlyn Dever, playing ‘Abby’, a member of a militant group who has a very specific reason for holding a very big grudge. Abby’s character and her actions proved very controversial in the game and one suspects that for pragmatic reasons, the show may not follow quite the same place and chronology of the award-winning PlayStation title (and with recent confirmation that some aspects are planned to play out over more than one season).
The new series, expected to debut in the first quarter of 2025, will also see some new locations beyond the supposed safety of the Jackson township where we left the characters in relative safety. Events will mean at least one of our heroes heading to Seattle where new enemies and new alliances will evolve.
The series is planned for multiple seasons, but any news of a potential The Last of Us: Part 3 for the PlayStation still hasn’t been revealed… yet speculation is that it will happen at some point…
