On Sunday night, HBO and its sister streaming service Max released a lengthy teaser of the network’s upcoming programming, including a first look at the second season of “The Last of Us.”
In the new footage, an unnamed character played by Emmy winner Catherine O’Hara asks the show’s apparent angel of death, Joel Miller (Emmy nominee Pedro Pascal), a simple question: “What did you do?” His response: “I saved her.”
As viewers of Season 1 remember, the truth is a bit more complicated. At the end of the breakout first season, Joel saved his traveling companion and de facto daughter, Ellie (Emmy nominee Bella Ramsay), from death by massacring several Firefly soldiers and doctors before they could use Ellie’s brain to find a cure for the Cordyceps outbreak that has all but ended humanity. (Ellie is somehow immune to the disease.) As fans of the blockbuster video game “The Last of Us Part II” remember, Joel’s actions will have long-lasting ramifications on him and Ellie. Season 2 of the HBO series will explore those consequences.
HBO drops the first teaser for The Last of Us season two https://t.co/FP8sb4GBfL pic.twitter.com/7tmoW2kb18
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In addition to O’Hara – who is playing a character not created for the original game – the brief teaser includes glimpses of other new cast additions, including Emmy winner Jeffrey Wright (reprising his game role as Isaac), Emmy nominee Kaitlyn Dever (as fan-favorite character Abby), and Isabel Merced (as the character Dina). Gabriel Luna returns to play Joel’s brother, Tommy. Emmy nominee Young Mazino (“Beef”) and “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” star Danny Ramirez are also in the cast for Season 2.
Season 1 of “The Last of Us” was a huge hit for HBO, landing 24 Emmy nominations last year, including Best Drama Series, Best Drama Actor for Pascal, and Best Drama Actress for Ramsey. The show won eight Emmys, including the guest acting categories for Nick Offerman and Storm Reid.
HBO did not specify when “The Last of Us” will return, but it will be sometime next year. The second season will run for seven episodes, it was previously reported, and won’t tell the entire story of “The Last of Us Part II” video game. Here’s co-creator Craig Mazin in an interview with Deadline:
“The story material that we got from ‘Part II’ of the game is way more than the story material that was in the first game, so part of what we had to do from the start was figure out how to tell that story across seasons,” Mazin said. “When you do that, you look for natural breakpoints, and as we laid it out, this season, the national breakpoint felt like it came after seven episodes.”
He added, “We don’t think that we’re going to be able to tell the story even within two seasons [2 and 3] because we’re taking our time and go down interesting pathways which we did a little bit in Season 1 too. We feel like it’s almost assuredly going to be the case that — as long as people keep watching and we can keep making more television — Season 3 will be significantly larger. And indeed, the story may require Season 4.”
New Look at HBO’s ‘The Last Of Us’ Part II #TheLastOfUs #HBO pic.twitter.com/oy8zexoCbI
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Key Points:
i. First Look at Season 2: HBO and Max released a teaser for the second season of “The Last of Us,” featuring a new character played by Catherine O’Hara and a returning Joel Miller (Pedro Pascal).
ii. Season 1 Recap and Future Consequences: The teaser revisits the dramatic end of Season 1, where Joel saved Ellie by violently preventing the Firefly doctors from using her brain to find a cure, setting up significant consequences for Season 2.
iii. New Cast Members: Season 2 introduces new characters played by Emmy winner Jeffrey Wright, Emmy nominee Kaitlyn Dever, Isabel Merced, Young Mazino, and Danny Ramirez. Gabriel Luna returns as Joel’s brother, Tommy.
iv. Emmy Success: Season 1 was a major hit, receiving 24 Emmy nominations and winning eight, including guest acting awards for Nick Offerman and Storm Reid.
v. Season Structure and Future Plans: Co-creator Craig Mazin revealed that Season 2 will have seven episodes and only cover part of “The Last of Us Part II” game, with plans for a third and possibly fourth season to fully explore the story.
Conner T – Reprinted with permission of Whatfinger News
