Warning: This post contains spoilers for The last of us finale
Tonight, as the Oscars aired on ABC, millions of viewers turned their attention elsewhere to HBO’s season finale The last of us. For those who have played the video game, they knew what was coming, but even then, it hurt just as much the second time around. Speaking of the game, many are wondering what Season 2 of the TV series will look like. It was announced in January that the hit series would be returning for a second season, and with the first season closely following the game’s story, it’s only to be expected that the show’s creators will follow suit in Season 2.
The second part of the game takes a much darker tone after the harrowing final scene in the first. The TV adaptation ends the same way as the game, with Ellie (Bella Ramsey) asking Joel (Pedro Pascal) to promise her that he didn’t lie to her that there are others who are also immune to Cordyceps and that the doctors don’t I need her after all. He reassures her that it’s true and they go to Jackson, Wyoming, to live with Joel’s brother Tommy. Without spoiling anything for The Last of Us Part IIit’s fair to say there’s a time jump and a violent attack sets the game’s story in motion.
While fans of the show wait for the next season to be released, here’s everything we know so far.
Read more: How The last of us Finale tried to capture the gut-wrenching ending of the game
Who will be back for season 2 and when will filming begin?
In an interview with W Magazine, Ramsey told the publication that they will return to play Ellie, and while Pascal has yet to say anything about his role’s reprisals, it is expected that he will return. There have been no announcements as to when the series will begin filming, but when Pascal was asked during an interview if there was a chance they could begin filming later this year, he said there was.
Many of the major actors who appeared in Season 1 played characters who died, so with the exception of any flashbacks, they would not be returning. But there are many crucial characters Part II who will likely appear in season 2. Casting for these roles is highly anticipated, with many publications sharing dream casts for these characters.
What is the time jump between seasons?
The second game takes a significant leap forward in time. It picks up five years after the end of the first game, and sees Joel and Ellie settling in Jackson, Wyoming with Joel’s brother Tommy and the rest of its residents. Since the first season stuck to the story of the first game, we have to assume that the second season will do the same.
What are the themes and stories being explored Part II?
One of the biggest storylines that flashed a moment in the second half of the first season is Ellie’s love life. Episode seven was modeled after downloadable content from The last of us titled “Left Behind” and gave viewers a glimpse into her friendship with Riley, played by Storm Reid. The episode follows their last day together as Riley convinces Ellie to sneak out of the QZ dorm and explore an abandoned mall. They encounter an infected and they are both bitten, but Ellie discovers that she is immune and has to kill Riley when she returns. This was Ellie’s first romantic connection and it was a heartbreaking way to deal with her sexuality, but Part II includes a few surprises in these themes, as well as even more stretch marks.
Will the tone for Season 2 be darker?
The moral conundrum posed to Ellie and Joel at the end of the first game laid the foundation for the main characters’ fractured relationship, which is explored throughout the second part of the game. But one particular event that we won’t spoil here takes the game down an even darker path and leads Ellie to question herself and her motives even more. The second game is a revenge story and explores this theme in many ways, which should once again make for compelling television.
When asked about the amount of violence and zombie action in Season 1 during a press conference last week, co-creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann said that the next season will have “a lot more infected.” On the differences between the game and the series, Mazin added, “We’re going to introduce things, but they’re going to be different, just like this season was different. Sometimes it will be radically different, and sometimes it will be slightly different, but it will be different. It will be his thing. It won’t be exactly like the game.”
There will be a part 3 of it The last of us?
said Druckman IGN that the only way they’d do a Part 3 is if he and Mazin had “a really good, compelling story,” but responded with “no comment” on there being a third installment. He said there is a “multiplayer game coming” and there will be more updates to the game “later this year.”
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