The Last of Us season 2: everything we know so far about the massively popular HBO show's return

There's light at the end of The Last of Us season 2 release date tunnel, everyone. HBO's hugely successful adaptation of Naughty Dog's beloved videogame franchise is set to arrive before June 2025, so the countdown is well and truly on for its arrival.

Before we're reunited with Joel and Ellie, however, you've got a lot of reading up to do on The Last of Us' sophomore outing. Below, we've rounded up the latest information on the post-apocalyptic horror-drama show, which is set to debut on Max and HBO (US), Sky and Now TV (UK), and Binge (Australia). That includes our release date prediction, confirmed cast details, story specifics, and its first teaser trailer.

Major spoilers follow for The Last of Us season 1 and the games that the series is inspired by. Potential spoilers are also discussed for one of the best Max shows' next installment.

The Last of Us season 2 release date prediction

The Last of Us season 2 doesn't have a firm release date yet but, in September, HBO chief Casey Bloys confirmed it'll launch in the "first half of 2025".

So, when do we think it'll premiere? Usually, HBO releases one of its big-budget shows just after the turn of a new year, which it did with The Last of Us' first season and True Detective: Night Country in January 2022 and January 2023 respectively. However, with filming only wrapping on season 2 in September, we imagine there's a long post-production phase that'll need to be completed before it's released. 

If HBO wanted it to launch on a particularly fitting day, it would release the series' next chapter on June 19, i.e. the same date that The Last of Us Part II – the second game in Naughty Dog's award-winning franchise – arrived. However, June 19 falls on a Thursday next year and, while another HBO show in The Penguin premiered on a Thursday this year (September 19), it's very rare that HBO releases its most popular shows on any other day other than a Sunday. It's for that reason, then, that we think season 2 will arrive on June 22, just 72 hours after its videogame namesake's five-year anniversary.

The Last of Us season 2 trailer

The Last of Us Season 2 | The Last of Us Day Official Teaser | Max - YouTube

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The Last of Us season 2's first trailer was released on The Last of Us Day, aka September 26 – the in-universe date that the Cordyceps virus ravaged humanity and destroyed life as we know it – and it confirmed two things. Number one: once again, it's going to be incredibly faithful to its videogame namesake. Number two: we're not ready to have our hearts broken again.

Before its first teaser arrived, a Max sizzle reel trailer highlighting its forthcoming lineup of thrilling HBO shows was, from a footage perspective, all we had to go on. That came almost three months after the first images for The Last of Us' second season were revealed, too.

There's a lot we could pick out from season 2's first trailer, but we'll be getting into spoiler territory if we elaborate too much on what it shows. You can read a bit more about its newest batch of footage in our cast and plot sections – just be careful because there are light to mild spoilers from this point on.

The Last of Us season 2 confirmed cast

Here's the cast for The Last of Us season 2 so far:

• Pedro Pascal as Joel
• Bella Ramsey as Ellie
• Gabriel Luna as Tommy
• Rutina Wesley as Maria
• Kaitlyn Dever as Abby
• Isabela Merced as Dina
• Young Mazino as Jesse
• Ariela Barer as Mel
• Tati Gabrielle as Nora
• Spencer Lord as Owen
• Jeffrey Wright as Isaac
• Danny Ramirez as Manny
• Catherine O'Hara as TBC

The first four actors reprise their roles from the show's first season, and they'll be joined in the major player category by No One Will Save You's Kaitlyn Dever as Abby, the second game's deuteragonist and season 2's primary antagonist. Dever is joined on the newcomers front by Beef star Young Mazino, who will portray one of Ellie's friends Jesse and Alien: Romulus' Isabela Merced as another of Ellie's companions (and girlfriend) Dina.

O'Hara's involvement was confirmed by HBO in February and, although there's no word on the identity of her character, it seems she'll be Joel's therapist or a close confidante that he discusses that season 1 finale moment with. Wright was also revealed to be part of proceedings by HBO in May, the Marvel voice actor tapped to portray Isaac Dixon, leader of the Washington Liberation Front and a key ally of Abby's in The Last of Us Part II. Further cast confirmations came in March (per Deadline) with Ramirez, Gabrielle, Barer, and Lord all signing on to play other members of the Washington Liberation Front.

The Last of Us season 2 plot speculation

Major spoilers follow for The Last of Us season 1 and Naughty Dog video game The Last of Us Part II.

Here's The Last of Us season 2's official logline, courtesy of HBO: "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."

Not a lot to go on, then. However, based on The Last of Us Part II, plus what happened in the season 1 finale, we've got a good idea of what lies ahead for the aforementioned duo and the series' other characters. We'll refrain from giving away any major spoilers from the second game – we're not that heartless – but there are some spoiler-less aspects we can discuss.

Firstly, season 2 won't be as long as its predecessor. As we reported in June, co-showrunner Craig Mazin revealed The Last of Us' next chapter will only have seven episodes as that felt like the "natural breakpoint" for this chapter. Considering he and co-creator Neil Druckman plan to tell The Last of Us Part II's story across two seasons, that seems as good a reason as any to make the forthcoming installment shorter.

As the logline confirms, season 2, like The Last of Us Part II, is set five years later, so Joel and Ellie have become established citizens of Jackson, the Wyoming town that the traveled to in order to find Joel's brother Tommy in season 1.

Things, though, won't remain rosy between the pair. In season 1 episode 9, Joel decided not to tell Ellie what actually happened at the Fireflies camp – i.e. that they were going to kill her in order to develop a cure for the Cordyceps infection. Ellie is completely immune to the disease, which is why the Fireflies were so keen to get their hands on her. 

When Joel finds out about this, he massacres them to save Ellie's life. It's an understandable decision, especially in light of what happened to his own daughter Sarah in season 1's opening episode. Still, he's seemingly consigned humanity to continue its fight against the infection with his selfish actions and, as evidenced by the footage we've seen, he's still feeling guilty about not coming clean to Ellie.

Elsewhere, there are new intruders looking to avenge deaths from season 1, and one specific event will culminate in a catastrophic and shocking death (if you know, you know). Other remaining characters will have to forge new alliances, there’s a new religious cult on the scene – the Seraphites – for Ellie and company to deal with, a new ex-Fireflies militia force called the Washington Liberation Front, and another terrifying group who enslave people called the Rattlers. All in all, our heroes are in for a stressful, violent, and emotional sequel season.

"It’s darker," Ramsey told Vanity Fair in June 2023. "It’s really a story about revenge, and a continuation from the first season about the dangers of unconditional love."

If that sounds like season 2 will ignore the Infected in favor of human-on-human action, don't fret. Speaking to Variety last March, Mazin and Druckmann said of the Infected – whose design was inspired by bean sprouts, according to the show's VFX animation supervisor – confirmed there'll be a greater variety of flesh-hungry monsters for our heroes and villains to worry about this season.

In much the same way as season 1 expanded on the franchise's universe and characters, its follow-up will do likewise. Previously, Druckmann told TechRadar that "we couldn't have told this story in the game", the TV adaptation's timeline change was made to "help make the story more real", and the show's third episode allowed it to "go in a different direction" to what plays out in the games.

So, there's a precedent for Naughty Dog, HBO, and Sony Pictures Television (the show's three production companies) to make changes where necessary. Chatting to Deadline, Druckmann said the show's executive team is playing around with how much might change in the TV adaptation's next entry, teasing: "The moment-to-moment beats and characters, they might stay the same, they might change. We will do what needs to happen to that story as it transfers from one medium to another." 

Adding to Druckmann's comments, Mazin also suggested we won't see every storyline from The Last of Us Part II in season 2 (more on that shortly). Finally, in November 2023, Druckmann confirmed season 2 will contain brand-new material not seen in the games, so there'll be some new content for long time fans to immerse themselves in.

Will The Last of Us season 2 be the final installment?

While there are only two video games – Druckmann says Naughty Dog has a "concept" in mind for The Last of Us Part III, for what it's worth – HBO's TV adaptation could potentially run for three seasons. As HBO's Francesca Orsi told Deadline: "I think Craig and Neil are still figuring out where they’re going to come to an end.  We have loosely heard that there will be a season 3 idea, but at this point, we’re taking it one season at a time. There’s no guarantee at this point that we’ll have a season 3, but I know that they both have a vision for season 3. Whether that lends itself to doing more [seasons], I don’t know yet."

Happily, Mazin has confirmed plans for season 3 in a separate Deadline interview, saying: "It [the second game] is going to be more than one season. There’s more story, so this show will not end with season 2 unless people don’t watch it and we’ll get cancelled". And there’s pretty much no chance of that happening, in our opinion. Once a third season is greenlit, we'll let you know.

For more Max TV-based coverage, read our guides on Euphoria season 3, Creature Commandos, and House of the Dragon season 3.