The Last of Us has been a huge success for HBO, proving once and for all that video games can provide excellent source material for TV and movies. HBO green-lit a new season very quickly, renewing the show after just two episodes had aired.
The debut season hasn’t even finished yet, and fans are already pondering when we might see the next season hit our screens. For a show like this, the scale of production is immense; season 1 was the largest production in Canadian history! Filming lasted almost an entire year, through July 2021 to June 2022. So basically, don’t expect season 2 anytime soon.
However, we do have one positive update. Speaking to Collider, star Pedro Pascal (Joel Miller) teased that the possibility of returning to work sometime this year is not out of the question. “In the year 2023? What season are we in now? We’re getting into spring, yes there is a chance,” he said.
The show has already been planting seeds for the new season. Remember that girl that Ellie shouted at in Episode 6, after she and Joel had arrived in Jackson, Wyoming? That may have been Dina, a key characters in The Last of Us Part II video game from Naughty Dog.
The first season of The Last of Us will cover the entirety of the first game. The second game tells a much larger story, expanding the world and introducing many new characters. It’s very possible that HBO will need two seasons to adapt it.
No, Bella Ramsey (Ellie) will NOT be recast for The Last of Us season 2!
Thankfully, despite some mumblings among fans, the show will not recast Ellie for the new season. The rumors all stem from the fact that the second game takes place after a five-year time jump following the end of the first.
But that won’t matter. Bella Ramsey is currently 19, five years older than Ellie was in the first game. Ellie is 19 in the second game, so she’s the perfect age. “I’ll be 20 probably by the time we shoot that, and I’ll be playing 19. So yeah, I will be closer to my age,” Ramsey previously told the Happy Sad Confused Podcast.
The Last of Us continues Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.
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