Here’s a breakdown of everything we know about The Last of Us Season 2, including any release date updates, confirmed cast details, plot, and more.
They did it. They really did it. Not only did HBO produce an incredible The Last of Us adaptation, but it’s won many accolades amid the 2024 awards season, setting a new prestige standard for video game movies and TV shows.
Any concerns fans had were put to rest in the first episode. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey are perfect as Joel and Ellie, while Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin managed to honor the game while also creating something that’s just as vital for fans as it is for newcomers.
After Season 1’s harrowing finale, the wait is now on the next chapter of Joel and Ellie’s story. So, here’s everything we know about The Last of Us Season 2 so far.
The Last of Us Season 2 release window
The Last of Us Season 2 will be released in the first half of 2025, but there’s no exact date.
HBO confirmed the show’s release window in its 2024 “The One To Watch” promo video, with Deadline reporting that it’ll arrive in the first half of the year.
Filming for season 2 wrapped in August 2024, meaning the second outing for the HBO series is rearing to enter post-production. There was a six-month wait following Season 1’s wrap to its release, so it’s a good bet to say Season 2 could arrive around February 2025 if it follows suit.
Cast list
Bella Ramsey, Pedro Pascal, Kaitlyn Dever and Isabela Merced lead The Last of Us Season 2.
Dever has been cast as the controversial (and amazing) game character Abby, while Merced takes on the role of Dina, Ellie’s love interest.
A May 24, 2024, announcement confirmed Jeffrey Wright would join as Isaac. In the game, Isaac is the Washington Liberation Front leader who allows Abby to leave and hunt for Joel.
Catherine O’Hara is reportedly Gail, a brand-new character who will appear for three episodes, claimed Daniel Richtman.
- Bella Ramsey as Ellie
- Pedro Pascal as Joel
- Gabriel Luna as Tommy
- Rutina Wesley as Maria
- Kaitlyn Dever as Abby
- Young Mazino as Jesse
- Isabela Merced as Dina
- Spencer Lord as Owen
- Danny Ramirez as Manny
- Ariela Barer as Mel
- Tati Gabrielle as Nora
- Catherine O’Hara as Gail
- Jeffrey Wright as Isaac
What will the plot be?
If Season 2 follows Part II, the show will skip ahead five years. Joel and Ellie live in Jackson together, but their relationship falls apart when Joel confesses to lying about the Fireflies at the hospital.
Before we get into this, be warned: we’re going to discuss the plot of The Last of Us Part II, so expect some major spoilers in this section. Stop reading now if you don’t want to know.
One blustery, snowy day, Joel and Tommy are on patrol when they rescue a girl from an infected horde. When they reach an outpost, they’re ambushed by her group, revealed to be part of the Washington Liberation Front.
This girl is Abby, the daughter of the Firefly doctor Joel murdered while rescuing Ellie from the hospital in Salt Lake City.
When they don’t return to Jackson, Ellie and Dina head out to find them. When Ellie reaches the same outpost, she’s forced to watch as Abby beats Joel to death with a golf club. Ellie vows to get her revenge, and she sets off to find Abby.
Speaking to GQ in February 2023, Ramsey said they’d visited the writers’ room for Season 2. “It was so cool to hear them talk about ideas — I’ve watched quite a lot of the gameplay of the second game, just because I’ve been curious,” they said.
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“I think [the show] will most likely follow the storyline of the games again. I don’t think there’s much need to fill in the gaps.”
“Also, the complexity of her relationship with Joel and how that gets decidedly… more complex,” Ramsey said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast.
“I’m looking forward to that, and the violence that ensues is thrilling in a way. To get to explore that in a really safe environment would be cool but I am nervous about it, too. I know what happens in the second game, and I’m nervous about potentially being without Pedro for a while. That’s gonna be really sad.”
HBO CEO Casey Bloys said of Season 2: “It’s great. It is bigger, gets into questions of retribution and revenge, it follows the video game and has big themes, big action. Craig, Neil, and the team are doing a spectacular job.”
We know Season 2 will, at the very least, begin telling the story of Part II, but it’s considerably larger in scope compared to the first game. According to Mazin, it’s likely we’ll get multiple seasons.
Craig Mazin hints that 'The Last of Us' could have up to four seasons"You never know. It can end up being three or five. But four seems like a good number."via @THR pic.twitter.com/kkCGP4CWd0
— ScreenTime (@screentime) August 17, 2023
“The amount of story that remains, that we have not covered, would be more than a season of television. So yeah, assuming we can keep going forward, the idea would be to do more than just one more season,” he told Consequence.
In an interview with GQ, Druckmann confirmed Part II will be adapted over multiple seasons. And Mazin told Deadline: “The show will not end with Season 2 unless people don’t watch it and we’ll get canceled.”
There is set to be a ton more infected, and a much bigger budget. But while it may stray from the source material slightly, as seen with Bill and Frank, Mazin and Druckmann aren’t “changing a damn thing” about their process. “I mean, our process worked. We worked really well together,” they told Deadline.
“We adapted where we wanted to adapt, how we wanted to adapt. We stayed close to the material. Sometimes we drifted away from the material, but that process worked great. So, we’re not changing that process at all. We are going to [continue to] push ourselves in all sorts of ways.”
The Last of Us Season 2 teaser
The first look for The Last of Us Season 2 came in a Max preview on August 5, 2024. While brief, we get a great look at an action-packed and emotionally devastating season to come.
From our first glimpse of Jeffrey Wright as Isaac to Catherine O’Hara in her mysterious new role, there’s plenty to dissect in this initial teaser.
How many episodes will The Last of Us Season 2 be?
The Last of Us season 2 will be shorter than the first and will have 7 episodes.
However, in an interview with Deadline, Mazin stated that one of the episodes in season 2 will be “quite big” in runtime.
He also teased that a potential season 3 will be “significantly larger” than the first two, even hinting that a fourth season could be on the cards.
And that’s everything we know about The Last of Us Season 2. In the meantime, check out other new TV shows to stream this month and binge-worthy TV shows to add to your watch list.