The Last of Us season 2: Everything we know so far

The first great new show of 2023, The Last of Us, concluded its first season in March. The critically acclaimed live-action adaptation of the video game by Naughty Dog premiered on HBO in January and was an instant success. Diehard fans of the game and new fans alike have applauded the wonderful performances and the writing throughout each episode. Everyone was surprised by how well the team behind the show pulled it off.

Casting Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey in the lead roles of Joel and Ellie was definitely the right choice, and unsurprisingly, both actors have received Emmy Award nominations for their performances. The show saw record-breaking viewership numbers in its first season, with the finale episode bringing in 8.2 million viewers.

Now that the first season is over and it’s been a few months, fans are desperate for updates on The Last of Us season 2. Here’s everything we know about the show’s future!

The Last of Us season 2 is definitely happening

Let’s get the good news out of the way first: The Last of Us season 2 is confirmed to be in the works. HBO renewed the series on January 27, just two days ahead of the third episode. Obviously, the network had a lot of faith in the show early on, and with these numbers, a renewal is a no-brainer.

Star Bella Ramsey was one of many who reacted to the good news on social media at the time of the renewal announcement, taking to Twitter to celebrate:

The Last of Us season 2 is on hold due to the writers’ and actors’ strikes

In case you haven’t been keeping up with the latest in entertainment industry news, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) are both currently on strike after not being able to come to an agreement on their new contracts with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). That means that writers for shows and movies under the AMPTP, like The Last of Us, cannot work, and actors cannot film.

The two strikes have pushed back release dates and postponed productions indefinitely, the latter being the case for The Last of Us season 2. Variety reported in May that while the show had started using scenes from the video game for cast auditions, all work on the second season was put on pause. There are no scripts yet, and there won’t be until the writers’ strike concludes.

The Last of Us season 2 was supposed to start filming in early 2024, per the same Variety report, but that might not happen if the strikes are still going on or if the scrips aren’t done in time.

The show’s co-creator Craig Mazin has been seen on the picket lines supporting the writers’ strike, posting a photo holding signs alongside The Last of Us Part II writer Halley Gross and actress Merle Dandridge who played Marlene in the show and game.

When could The Last of Us season 2 come out?

We can safely rule out a 2023 release date for The Last of Us season 2 considering nothing has been written or filmed yet, and at this point, we’re probably ruling out a 2024 release as well. I know, it pains me to say it, but the second season likely won’t premiere until 2025.

There is no confirmed release date for the second season at this time, but considering the ongoing strikes, the work the cast and crew have ahead, and potential scheduling conflicts the actors might have, it’s going to take a long time. Pascal is a hugely in-demand actor right now, with eight other upcoming projects listed on his IMDb page, and we’re sure Ramsey will be snatching up roles left and right as well once the actors’ strike is over. Filming for the first season took almost a whole year! This isn’t a quick and easy process.

In March, Pascal teased filming could start sometime in 2023, but of course, that was before the writers and actors went on strike.

We’ll keep this post updated as we hear more news about the season 2 filming schedule and release date, but for now, we’re predicting a 2025 return for the series.

The Last of Us season 2 cast and characters

So far, Pascal and Ramsey are confirmed to be reprising their roles as Joel and Ellie in The Last of Us season 2. Gabriel Luna, who plays Joel’s brother Tommy, will also return for the second season, and he revealed he’s even pitched ideas to the creators. “So we’ll see what they have in store, but I was ready before we shot the first frame of for Part II. I’m excited to get into that work,” Luna said. It’s also likely that Tommy’s wife Maria (Rutina Wesley) will return as well.

These characters are some of the few we’re expecting to return for the second season, but HBO will have a handful of roles to cast. Here are some of the most important characters we’re expecting to see added to the show in season 2:

• Abby
• Dina
• Jesse
• Lev
• Manny
• Yara

At the time of this writing, it doesn’t look like any new additions have been cast yet, as it was believed the show had just started auditions before the writers’ strike began. As new cast members are announced for The Last of Us season 2, we’ll be sure to update this post.

The Last of Us Part II synopsis

The first season hasn’t strayed away too far from the events of the first game, so we’re expecting the second season to be pretty faithful to The Last of Us Part II. Here’s the official synopsis for the second game so you have an idea of what we can expect, but be warned, there are minor spoilers below:

"Five years after their dangerous journey across the post-pandemic United States, Ellie and Joel have settled down in Jackson, Wyoming. Living amongst a thriving community of survivors has allowed them peace and stability, despite the constant threat of the infected and other, more desperate survivors.When a violent event disrupts that peace, Ellie embarks on a relentless journey to carry out justice and find closure. As she hunts those responsible one by one, she is confronted with the devastating physical and emotional repercussions of her actions."

The Last of Us Part II trailer

Again, proceed with caution as there might be spoilers you don’t want to see, but we’ve added the official trailer for the second game below if you’re interested in checking it out. This provides a much closer look into what to expect than the synopsis does, but we’d recommend not watching it if you want to go into season 2 blind.

Will Joel die in The Last of Us season 2?

Joel has a near-death experience in the first season of The Last of Us when he’s stabbed in Episode 6, but fortunately, with Ellie’s help, he recovers. A question on many viewers’ minds who haven’t played the game is whether or not Joel will die at any point throughout the show. Though we have the answer as to what happens in the game, we don’t want to spoil it for you here, so if you actually want to know we’d encourage you to read our post about Joel’s future here.

How many seasons will The Last of Us have?

Considering there are only two Last of Us games out there, you’re probably wondering how many seasons that means for the show. Will there only be two? Well, we have reason to believe there will be at least three seasons, though this hasn’t been confirmed by HBO yet. Craig Mazin spoke to IGN and confirmed the second game will take longer than just one season to cover, calling it “a much bigger” and “more complicated” story.

So if all goes well with the second season and it sees great viewership numbers like the first, we can assume that a third season will be on the way. Anything after that, though, is doubtful. In another interview with Gizmodo, Mazin stressed that they don’t want to go beyond the games:

"Unless some miraculous thing happened and the video game production was accelerated by 1000% and the third game magically came out, I am not interested in going beyond the existing source material. As a viewer, I have no problem watching shows that just keep going and going and going. No problem. But as a writer, I don’t want to be in the position of spinning plates to just spool out season after season of stuff. To me, it’s important that things are purposeful, and if they’re purposeful, that means they have endings. That means everything you do is carefully selected and chosen, not just there to keep going."

Though we’re a while away from watching The Last of Us season 2, at least we can always rewatch the first installment. All nine episodes are available to stream on Max.

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