The Last of Us is officially set to return for its second season from 13 April 2025. As announced, it will air on HBO’s Max streaming service, Binge in Australia, and other equivalents around the world, with seven episodes airing over a number of weeks.
To date, we’ve already learned a lot about what to expect – largely as this second season is directly inspired by The Last of Us Part 2. Should this season follow in the footsteps of its predecessor, we expect it to closely adapt the events of this game, possibly with some minor tweaks to ensure maximum heartache.
In continuing the story of Ellie and Joel, we’ll see a range of new faces in The Last of Us: Season 2, the most notable being Kaityln Dever’s Abby, who plays a key part in the events of the game. We’ll also see the debut of Dina, played by Isabela Merced (Madame Web), Nora, played Tati Gabrielle (The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Mortal Kombat 2), Jess, played by Young Mazino (Beef), and Mel, played by Ariela Barer (Marvel’s Runaways).
We’ll also see the arrival of wonderful Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek, Beetlejuice, Home Alone), whose character isn’t yet announced. In a fun bit of trivia, it’s also worth noting that Tati Gabrielle is actually playing the title character in Naughty Dog’s upcoming Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.
Read: How Abby in ‘The Last of Us: Part 2’ challenged players to think differently
In addition to revealing the release date for The Last of Us: Season 2, HBO has also released a bunch of character posters for the upcoming season, providing hints about what’s to come.
The Last Of Us: new posters
Joel, played by Pedro Pascal, is represented by a broken watch – in a ‘time’s up’ sort of manner, if you get the drift. Ellie, played by Bella Ramsey, is represented by her guitar. Meanwhile Kaitlyn Dever‘s Abby stands on the symbol of the Fireflies, the militia group attempting to overthrow FEDRA and fight for the survival of their own.
With the tagline ‘Every Path Has a Price’ it’s easy to assume this season will focus on the risks and consequences stemming from the first season, and the fallout of Joel’s actions in particular.
We expect to hear much more about The Last of Us: Season 2 in the coming weeks, so stay tuned as HBO ramps up to deliver the next chapter in Joel and Ellie’s story.
Here’s what ScreenHub’s Naja Later thought of Season 1:
‘The show has done its genre homework: apart from the game itself, there are abundant shout-outs to 21st-century zombie horror. It’s taken the gore from Annihilation, the (sparing) scares from 28 Days Later, the cowboy stylings of The Walking Dead, a set from Train to Busan, and the spectacle from Cloverfield: but it doesn’t quite add up to anything of its own yet.’
Being HBO, the beautiful opening titles are key to the motif: the gimmick here is fungus. The crawling of spores starts to resemble roads, cities, and eventually our heroes: perhaps the American Experiment is finally escaping its petri dish.’
Read: Our colleagues at GamesHub gave The Last of Us 4 stars … who do you agree with?
‘At 120 minutes, the pilot plays like a short feature without much payoff: hopefully the pace picks up in later episodes. One major benefit is that the show is actually well-lit: Australians who want to keep abreast of the global online water-cooler discussion can easily watch this at midday in summer without needing to squint at a murky screen. But pacing-wise, it might be better to wait and binge.’
Video games seldom adapt well to film or television. The fungus in Last of Us puppeteers the zombies to flail and attack with no will of their own, prompting a question: was Joel really so different, with a player behind the joystick? Well-written games utilise this problem of choice, entertaining the illusion that we’re in control of a narrative. On TV, that choice is forfeit from the get-go: we have no control – and really, we never did.’
The Last Of Us is streaming on Binge. Season 2 will premiere this April.
