When HBO’s The Last of Us debuted in January of last year, many fans of the Naughty Dog video game franchise upon which Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann’s series is based weren’t sure what to expect: yes, there was a tremendous amount of talent both behind and in front of the camera for The Last of Us: TV Edition, and sure, the trailers made the show look like a pitch-perfect recreation of Naughty Dog’s game … but video adaptations are a very tricky thing, and gamers know all too well the very particular sting that comes with seeing a beloved title get mangled via the adaptation process.
But lo, we looked upon The Last of Us and saw that it was good. Great, actually. Critics were blown away by the series, millions of people tuned in to watch it every Sunday night (oh, how we miss those Sunday night appointment viewings), and most of the game’s fanbase seemed thrilled with what Mazin and Druckmann had done with the thing. And that wasn’t all: once the season wrapped, it raked in an absurd number of award nominations and wins (check out this Wikipedia page for a full accounting of those accolades), on top of the inevitable second season renewal granted to it by the overlords at HBO.
If there’s anything to complain about here, it’s that we have to wait until next year for the second season of The Last of Us to arrive, but that’s okay. We can be patient, and we can certainly be patient when it comes to a series this good … especially given how dramatically heavy The Last of Us S2 is guaranteed to be.
Anyway, this was all a very long and unnecessary way of setting up the following reveal: today, HBO released the first two official stills from The Last of Us S2. One of them, featuring Pedro Pascal’s Joel, is at the top of this page. The second one, featuring Bella Ramsey’s Ellie, can be seen below:
These photos (which, admittedly, don’t give us much to go on and basically just serve as “proof of life” that the shooting of the second season is well under way) arrived via a press release, which reminds us that The Last of Us S2 has a stacked cast:
“Season two returning cast includes Pedro Pascal as Joel, Bella Ramsey as Ellie, Gabriel Luna as Tommy, and Rutina Wesley as Maria. Previously announced new cast includes Kaitlyn Dever as Abby, Isabela Merced as Dina, Young Mazino as Jesse, Ariela Barer as Mel, Tati Gabrielle as Nora, Spencer Lord as Owen, and Danny Ramirez as Manny. Catherine O’Hara also guest stars.”
Nothing further to report on The Last of Us S2 and, quite frankly, it might be a while before we do. But you can bet your sweet ass that we’ll be keeping our ear to the ground for further updates, and will have those in front of your eyeballs as soon as humanly possible. Stay tuned, The Last of Us fans (and, hey, by the way: if you haven’t played The Last of Us Part II, be wary of spoilers; they could pop up anywhere).
