The Last of Us Season 2: What Game It Will Cover, Cast, and Everything Else to Know

While video game adaptations don't have the greatest reputation, there have been plenty of entertaining movies and shows based on games. But few of those adaptations fit the prestige mold at all — and most didn't even try, really. That changed with HBO's zombie drama The Last of Us, the rare video game adaptation that is as acclaimed by critics as it is popular among viewers. And after a successful first season, Season 2 is by far one of the most anticipated shows of 2025.

At the end of Season 1, Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) were captured by the Fireflies, a faction dedicated to curing the zombie fungus plague that destroyed civilization. When Joel realized the Fireflies' plan to find the cure involved killing Ellie, who is naturally immune to the plague, he took extreme measures (read: killed everyone in sight) to keep her alive. She is safe in the final moments of the show, but Ellie seemingly knows that Joel lied to her about what happened in that hospital. 

HBO officially renewed The Last of Us for Season 2 in January 2023. The network has also shared the official logline for the upcoming chapter: "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." TV Guide will share everything we learn about the next part of the story here.

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The Last of Us Season 2 latest news

The first official trailer for Season 2 is out! Check it out in the trailers section below.

Also, Joe Pantoliano is, per Variety, joining the cast of Season 2 of The Last of Us as Eugene, a character who was referenced but not seen in the second game — he's got a little weed farm that Ellie encounters. Even though players did not meet Eugene in the game, series co-creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann felt he offered a great opportunity to expand the story, not unlike the award-winning Season 1 episode that focused on Bill and Frank. In addition to Pantoliano, five other actors are joining the cast in supporting roles. More details are in the casting section below.

When is The Last of Us Season 2 premiering?

HBO announced on Feb. 19 that The Last of Us Season 2 premieres on Sunday, April 13. You can watch Episode 1 at 9/8c on HBO, and the series will also be available to stream on Max. 

The Last of Us Season 2 trailers and teasers

On March 8, HBO released the first official trailer for The Last of Us Season 2, and it's a big one that hints at larger scale attacks by the Infected, some post-apocalyptic romance, and Ellie confronting Joel, seemingly about his lie. I know it's just a trailer and trailers are supposed to do this, but Season 2 looks bigger than Season 1 in every way. 

Previously, HBO released a new teaser on Jan. 6. It's tense and features plenty of the season's new characters, as well as more of the Infected. 

HBO dropped the first official teaser for Season 2 on The Last of Us Day on Sept. 26, 2024. The teaser starts with Pascal's Joel sitting in what appears to be a therapy session with none other than Catherine O'Hara. We don't have much information yet about O'Hara's character, but it's safe to assume she's there to help Joel process his recent traumatic experiences. "You can't heal something unless you're brave enough to say it out loud," O'Hara says. 

On Aug. 4, 2024, Max released a spot teasing upcoming HBO and Max series. The video includes a 20-second clip from The Last of Us Season 2 and introduces us to O'Hara's character. We see her character asking Joel an all-important question: "Did you hurt her?" (Her being Ellie, of course.) To which Joel responds, "I saved her." 

At the Warner Bros. Discovery Upfront presentation on May 15, 2024, HBO revealed the first photos of Joel and Ellie in Season 2. 

The Last of Us Season 2 cast

Joe Pantoliano has boarded the series as Eugene, a character who was alluded to in the video game but never seen, according to a Variety report in March 2025. Eugene is a cannabis farmer, and creators Mazin and Druckmann saw him as a character they could expand on, similar to the Emmy-winning Season 1 episode "Long, Long Time," which focused on Nick Offerman's Bill and Murray Bartlett's Frank.

Variety also reported that Robert John Burke will play Seth, the bartender in the Wyoming community where Ellie and Joel are staying, and Noah Lamanna is playing Kat, who dated Ellie before the events of this season. Both characters were part of the video games. Alanna Ubach, Ben Ahlers, and Hettienne Park are also joining the cast, playing characters original to the show.

Jeffrey Wright is also joining The Last of Us Season 2. In May 2024, Variety reported that Wright will reprise his role as Isaac, whom he voiced in the video game The Last of Us Part II, in the HBO series. The character is described as "the quietly powerful leader of a large militia group who sought liberty but instead has become mired in an endless war against a surprisingly resourceful enemy."

Variety reported in March 2024 that Danny Ramirez has been cast as Manny, "a loyal soldier whose sunny outlook belies the pain of old wounds and a fear that he will fail his friends when they need him most." Ariela Barer will play Mel, "a young doctor whose commitment to saving lives is challenged by the realities of war and tribalism."

Also according to Variety, Tati Gabrielle has been cast as Nora, "a military medic struggling to come to terms with the sins of her past." And Spencer Lord will play Owen, "a gentle soul trapped in a warrior's body, condemned to fight an enemy he refuses to hate." 

Variety reported in February 2024 that Catherine O'Hara will be joining the cast. 

In January 2024, Deadline reported that Isabela Merced is joining the cast as Dina. "Dina is warm, brilliant, wild, funny, moral, dangerous and instantly lovable," Mazin and Druckmann told the publication. "You can search forever for an actor who effortlessly embodies all of those things, or you can find Isabela Merced right away."

Young Mazino will play Jesse, according to Variety. In 2023, Mazino had a breakout performances as Paul Cho, the younger brother of Steven Yeun's Danny Cho, in Beef. Jesse is described as "a pillar of his community who puts everyone else's needs before his own, sometimes at terrible cost." 

Kaitlyn Dever will join Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey in Season 2 as Abby, a key figure in the second game. Interestingly, fans campaigned for Dever — a veteran of Justified, Dopesick, and, more recently, Hulu's horror film No One Will Save You — to play Ellie when the series adaptation was first announced, and her casting as Abby was rumored for months before it was confirmed in January 2024.

In the game, Abby is quite muscular — and Dever did not get buff for the role, which means the TV version of the character should have a very different sort of demeanor than she does in the game. But that was no problem for Mazin and Druckmann.

"Kaitlyn Dever wanted to work with us; we wanted to work with her. It's not worth passing it up to continue a search that might never bear fruit to find someone that matches the physicality," Druckmann told Variety. 

The Season 2 cast includes:

• Pedro Pascal as Joel 
• Bella Ramsey as Ellie
• Gabriel Luna as Tommy
• Rutina Wesley as Maria
• Jeffrey Wright as Isaac
• Kaitlyn Dever as Abby
• Young Mazino as Jesse
• Isabela Merced as Dina
• Danny Ramirez as Manny
• Catherine O'Hara
• Joe Pantoliano as Eugene

ALSO READ: Every episode of The Last of Us, ranked

The Last of Us Season 2 behind the scenes

Co-creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann are still on board as showrunners and executive producers of the HBO series. Mazin and Druckmann will each also direct an episode in Season 2. Deadline reported in January 2024 on the five other directors who will be behind the camera in the upcoming season: Peter Hoar (who directed Season 1's "Long, Long Time") will return, joined by Mark Mylod (Succession), Nina Lopez-Corrado (Perry Mason), Stephen Williams (Watchmen), and Kate Herron (Loki).

Druckmann has promised some significant changes to the game's story in the adaptation for Season 2, though it's tough to gauge exactly how much from this quote in Variety: "It's a different version of that story, but its DNA is in there. Maybe more than excited, I'm really curious what their reaction will be." While it's not clear how significant the changes will be, it sounds like they deviated more from the source in Season 2 than they did in Season 1.

How much of The Last of Us Part II will Season 2 cover?

The Last of Us Season 2 will be a bit shorter than the first one was — but that's only because the creative team is thinking long term as they split the story of the second game, The Last of Us Part II, across multiple seasons. Deadline reported on June 5, 2024 that Season 2 will consist of seven episodes, down two from Season 1's nine episodes. Co-creator Craig Mazin told the outlet, "As we laid it out, this season, the [natural] breakpoint felt like it came after seven episodes." 

While the series has not yet been renewed beyond the upcoming second season, the current plan is to end the whole thing with four seasons at most, according to Mazin. "It feels like we've got one or two more seasons," Mazin said. "It's getting harder to make, because every episode gets big. You don't want to wait four years for a 17-episode finish, or whatever it is."

Helping that matter is the fact that the video game part of the franchise has been put to bed for the foreseeable future. "Don't bet on there being more of Last of Us," Druckmann told Variety. So while we can expect the series to tells a deeper and more fleshed-out version of Part II's story, it won't continue beyond it.

How to watch The Last of Us Season 1

The Last of Us Season 1 is available to stream on Max.