In a new interview with Variety, Naughty Dog studio head Neil Druckmann is teasing more about The Last of Us Season 2. While an exact date has not yet been announced, the new season of the live-action HBO series is rumored to be hitting screens in time for the 2025 award season.
While the first season set up the show’s overarching premise and gave some insights into its characters, more important backstories is coming in season two, according to Druckmann.
“And there’s stuff in this season that I’m really excited about — stuff that we hinted at — one scene in particular comes to mind that I think fans of the game will eat up, because it really kind of tells you a lot of backstory of this important character that there wasn’t really a way for us to even do that in the game,” Druckmann said.
A brief teaser trailer for the long-awaited second season was revealed last month, teasing Catherine O’Hara as a new addition to the cast. It remains unclear who she will play in the live-action adaptation, though many speculate that the Schitt’s Creek and Beetlejuice actress may portray the prophet of the Seraphites.
“The way we approach it, we start at the beginning of the season, and we break the season, and we look at the game. Our goal is to tell the best story possible,” he continued.
“And then our process is to just look at the content we have in the game and say, ‘OK, what are things that we both just overwhelmingly love and feel could be adapted as is?’ And we just put little check marks by those index cards to say, ‘OK, those things could just stay as is,’ and that becomes building blocks.”
The next season of the show will adapt The Last of Us Part 2, with Kaitlyn Dever joining the cast as Abby, with Isabela Merced playing Ellie’s love interest Dina. Other new additions to the cast include Young Mazino as Jessie, Danny Ramirez as Manny, Tati Gabrielle as Nora, Ariela Barer as Mel, and Spencer Lord as Owen. Gabriel Luna and Rutina Wesley will return to the series as Tommy and Maria, respectively.
The first season of The Last of Us was HBO’s most-watched first season for any series on the streaming service. It also won eight Emmy awards.
