The Last of Us Season 2: Jam-Packed Teaser Hints at Painful Joel/Ellie Separation — Watch
It’s The Last of Us Day! Free fungi and emotional torment for everyone!
Season 2 of HBO’s post-apocalyptic drama won’t return until sometime next year. But fans got a new sneak peek at what’s to come courtesy of a fresh teaser trailer released Thursday — AKA Sept. 26, which is both the birthday of Joel (played by Pedro Pascal) and the day that the Cordyceps infection really started messing with/nearly wiping out humanity.
Per the official synopsis, Season 2 will begin with a time jump: “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.” Season 2 is slated to premiere in the first half of 2025.
HBO also released three images created by artist Greg Ruth in celebration of the show’s seminal date. You can see them below.
In August, HBO released the first footage from the show’s sophomore run via a Max promo. In it, Joel made an expected confession — to an unexpected character: Season 2 newbie Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek). She presumably wondered about Ellie, asking Joel, “Did you hurt her?” His response: “I saved her.” Fans of the franchise will recognize this as a deviation from the original story. In the video game, Joel delivers his confession to his brother Tommy (and only Tommy).
The new teaser seems to indicate more changes from the Naughty Dog video game’s storyline, including our first good look at Kaitlyn Dever (Dopesick) as Abby. We’re also intrigued by what’s going on around the :45 mark; those who know The Last of Us Part II inside and out will recognize this scene as something that is shown at the very end of that game. Given that series creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have indicated that the show will likely go at least three seasons, it’s interesting that the moment is included in Season 2.
Also of note: Isaac (Westworld’s Jeffrey Wright) and a captured Seraphite, some longing looks between Ellie and Dina (100 Things to Do Before High School’s Isabella Merced), and the music at the start of the clip, which is from a series of poignant moments in Part II.
Season 1 came to an end after Joel murdered a hospital full of Firefly resistance fighters who intended to kill Ellie in order to figure out a cure for Cordyceps infection. When Ellie — who’d been anesthetized and therefore unaware of both Joel’s actions and the danger to her — came to, Joel lied and said the experiment hadn’t worked. Later, when she made him swear that he was telling the truth, he did so readily… even though he was doubling down on the lie. (Read a recap.)
In addition to Dever, Wright, Merced and O’Hara, Season 2 cast newbies include: Young Mazino (BEEF), Danny Ramirez (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), Ariela Barer (Runaways), Tati Gabrielle (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) and Spencer Lord (Heartland).
Hit PLAY on the video above, then hit the comments with your The Last of Us Season 2 hopes!
Dull & boring.
I lose patience with these long gaps between seasons. It was understandable during COVID and of course the Writers strike messed things up but caught up pretty quickly.in both cases. Now. at best, it will be 2 years between Season 1 and 2 of TLOU and (assuming it ever arrives) at least 3 years between the end of season 4 of Stranger things and season 5. No sure I can be bothered to watch either (particularity ST) as despite the inevitable ‘previously on….I will have completely lost interest in the characters and actually, probably not care any more. Bearing in mind that it needs to pick up in the aftermath of S4 how exactly do they explain that the ‘children’ are now fully grown adults????
I stopped watching ST after season 3 because the kids had grown so fast and the show had lost much of the charm of the first few seasons. I bailed after watching one episode of season 4 because the show had gotten too full of itself.
I’m old enough to remember a 2-year gap between Roots and Roots: The Next Generation (and with no way to rewatch the first before the second short of a network rerun). But I guess that was before people developed the attention spans of goldfish.
But not the “big change” that would be needed to get me to watch a Season 2.
So long between seasons.
A lot of that will be down to actor availability. Pedro Pascal is a busy guy these days. He’s got the Fantastic Four main role too!
Boring and dull show. I thought it would be as good as the walking dead but it wasn’t. I am not watching.