The Last of Us season two gets release date – and it’s sooner than we thought
The second season will see Schitt's Creek star Catherine O'Hara appear in an as-of-yet unknown character we saw teased in the trailer
By Gary Grimes
HBO’s adaptation of the hit video game The Last of Us is finally returning for its long awaited second season as the network has just announced the next series will start airing from 2 April.
The Pedro Pascal-fronted series was a mammoth hit in 2023, thanks to its epic, sprawling plot and tender queer storylines with actors Bella Ramsey and Murray Bartlett.
Just as the first season covered the events of the first video game, the second season will cover the storyline of the game’s sequel, The Last of Us: Part II, taking place five years on from where we left Joel and Ellie.
One of the series’ showrunners Craig Mazin recently spoke to Entertainment Weekly about what was in store for the upcoming season, saying: “Each episode is like a meal. You can have a light dinner or you can go to a 12-course French restaurant.
“We have seven episodes. They are high-calorie, dense episodes. If you consider action and drama and scope to be the things that create an epic nature, each one of these episodes packs quite a wallop. You will not be bored.”
Mazin also spoke of his hopes that the series will span multiple further seasons, though HBO has not greenlit anything past the upcoming second season yet. “I think it’s pretty likely that our story will extend past a season three,” Mazin said. “How far past? I can’t say. And that’s not to say that there are not other stories that could be told, but this story is the one that Neil and I are telling.”
As well as Pascal and Ramsey, Jeffrey Wright is due to return as Isaac, the leader of a militia group Ellie and Joel encounter. Schitt’s Creek star Catherine O’Hara has also been cast in an as-of-yet unknown role.
Pascal has a busy year as 2025 will also see the release of his Marvel Comics film The Fantastic Four: First Steps in which he stars as Mister Fantastic. He will also appear in Materialists, an upcoming romcom starring Dakota Johnson and Chris Evans.
Ramsey was recently announced to be leading an upcoming romantic comedy Sunny Dancer which boasts an impressive cast of LGBTQ+ stars including Neil Patrick Harris and Baby Reindeer breakout Jessica Gunning.