Whether you’re emotionally ready for The Last of Us season 2 or not, it’s happening.
The Last of Us season 1 ended with Joel, played by Pedro Pascal, rescuing his pseudo foster daughter Ellie (Bella Ramsey), but at a terrible cost. Joel has to shoot and kill his way through the army of Fireflies to stop them from removing Ellie’s brain—which could cure the global pandemic but kill her in the process. While he succeeds in saving her in the nick of time, he also doesn’t tell her the truth about why she was in danger, setting up an emotional betrayal that will have to be dealt with in the upcoming season.
"One of the notes that I resent the most is ‘We loved this thing — more of it, please!’” series creator Craig Mazin told Variety. “No. You love it because that’s the right amount of it. When you do more, what makes it special starts to dissipate. It becomes comfort food. And if there’s one thing about The Last of Us, it is not comfortable.”
Now that we're all up to speed, here is everything we know about The Last of Us season 2.
What is the plot of The Last of Us season 2?
Season 1 of The Last of Us ended two years ago, but the time jump between the events of season 1 and season 2 is even longer than that. Per Variety, The Last of Us season 2 picks up five years after we last saw Joel (Pascal) and Ellie (Ramsey).
“I feel like it was a beautiful setup by Craig and Neil that the first thing that I got to shoot was just [Ramsey] and I and in kind of an intimate setting,” Pascal said during a press conference panel. “There’s incredibly painful distance between the two of them and the playing of the scene, but we still got to be on set and fuck around and laugh and stuff like that. And that was incredibly comforting, that was like coming home.”
When does the season premiere?
The Last of Us season 2 premieres on April 13 on Max at 9 p.m. ET, and will air every Sunday for seven episodes.
Is there a trailer?
There is! And it promises to be just as devastating as the first season. The Last of Us season 2 trailer dropped on March 8, and teased just as many heart-pounding action sequences and heart-wrenching emotional fall-outs amidst the dystopian zombie landscape as the first.
Who is returning from season 1?
Bella Ramsey, Pedro Pascal, and Gabriel Luna are all set to reprise their roles as three of the few characters who made it out of season 1 alive.
Who is joining for the first time?
Season 1 featured a variety of guest stars, including Melanie Lynskey, Storm Reid, and Nick Offerman. The Last of Us season 2 is set to introduce a whole new host of guest appearances, including from Jeffrey Wright and Catherine O’Hara as Joel’s therapist. Most significantly, season 2 will also star Kaitlyn Dever as Abby, a primary antagonist character from the video game.