‘The Last of Us’ Renewed for Season 2

In 2013, Naughty Dog released a game that took over the world, and now, thanks to creator Neil Druckmann and his television counterpart and co-creator Craig Mazin, fans can’t stop talking about The Last of Us. The HBO series is fantastic and the love for it is very real, even though we’ve only seen two episodes so far!

In a very unsurprising twist (given the praise for the adaptation), fans can expect more of The Last of Us! HBO has announced that the journey will continue with another season of the hit series starring Pedro Pascal as Joel Miller and Bella Ramsey as Ellie Williams. And it’s exciting given just how much the show has meant to existing fans and new fans alike.

Following the announcement, the news instantly made its way around the fandom, leaving everyone screaming for joy. We’re excited to see where the story goes and how (and if) it differs from the game. Since there is a bit of a jump between the two parts of the game, it’ll be interesting to see what the show chooses to do for its second season and whether or not it continues to mirror the game.

For fans of the game though, this news is, well, giving us whiplash.

So let’s talk about what happens in the game and how I think that they could maybe keep the show going for a bit before getting to the events of The Last of Us: Part II.

But before we get into too many spoilers, let’s talk about what we know about season 2 so far and what we can likely expect.

When can we expect season 2?

Right now, HBO has only said that the show will return for season 2. Given that the first season took about a year to complete in total, I suspect we might not see season 2 until 2025—maybe 2024 at the earliest, but not in the spring or summer. We might be waiting a while to see what happens and that’s okay. It just gives us plenty of time to keep rewatching the first season once all the episodes have been released.

Now we’re going to get into some spoilers from Part I and Part II of the game, so proceed with caution.

Which characters will return for season 2?

Well, we know from the game that Joel and Ellie are probably safe. Unless something majorly changes, the two are in Part II. As for the rest of the cast, that is up in the air. There’s a time jump between the first and second games, and Part II starts in Wyoming, where Joel and Ellie are living with Tommy Miller. So we could see Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, and Gabriel Luna return, but that depends on where the show takes us and what the plans are for season 2.

Part II does have some big changes that the HBO series might want to hold off on …

What happens in The Last of Us: Part II?

In the game, Joel Miller is older and there is a five-year time jump. Ellie is 19 years old, Joel is 57. Already the show is a bit different because Joel is older in the television show, so if they did season 2 exactly like Part II, Joel would be in his 60s. But the main thing is that Joel Miller dies; he is beaten to death, leading Ellie to seek answers.

Now, Ramsey is already the same age as Ellie in Part II, but she looks younger. So maybe, to space the story out and also give us more time with Pedro Pascal’s Joel, we’ll have a second season that takes place in between those five years. I’d like that, and I think that everyone else who’s obsessed with Joel would, too. But until we know more, the news is bittersweet for fans who know what happens to Joel in the game.

The Last of Us still has a lot of story to tell and we can’t wait to see the rest of the first season. But man, it is going to hurt if they go right into The Last of Us: Part II.

(featured image: HBO)

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