The Last of Us season 2 not likely to air until late 2024 or early 2025

The first season of the HBO TV series adaptation of the video game The Last of Us (read our review HERE) made its premiere in January and wrapped up its nine episode run earlier this month… and while the series is guaranteed to receive a second season, fans are going to have to wait a while before they’re able to watch it. Series star Bella Ramsey has cautioned that The Last of Us season 2 probably won’t start airing until late 2024 or early 2025.

While being interviewed on The Jonathan Ross Show, Ramsey said (as reported by Independent), “(Season 2) will be a while. I think we’ll probably shoot at the end of this year, beginning of next. So it’ll probably be the end of 2024, early 2025.“

It isn’t all that surprising to hear that they’re going to need a while to put The Last of Us season 2 together, because the first season of the show filmed in Alberta, Canada for twelve months straight (following six months of prep). Even if they don’t need a full year and a half to get season 2 in the can, the schedule probably won’t be a whole lot shorter. This is somewhat beneficial to the second season. The first season covered the entirety of the first game, so The Last of Us Part II will serve as the basis of season 2 (and beyond). The story of that game begins four years after the events of the first one, and Ramsey’s teenage character is meant to age four years between season 1 and season 2. So it’s good to put some space between the filming of the two seasons.

The story of the The Last of Us video game is set years after a fungal plague wiped out much of humanity, transforming most into vicious zombie-like monsters, the story follows Joel, who’s living in a militarized quarantine zone. He has a close relationship with Tess, who operates in the black market of this community. Together, they’ve become known by the local criminal underworld for their ruthlessness. On a mission to reclaim their stolen guns, they run into the leader of the Fireflies, a resistance group, who tasks them with smuggling a young girl named Ellie out of the zone. This mission soon becomes much more than they were prepared for. 

Pedro Pascal plays Joel, who is “tormented by past trauma and failure. He must trek across a pandemic-ravaged America, all the while protecting a girl who represents the last hope of humanity”. He is joined in the cast by Bella Ramsey as Ellie, “a 14-year-old orphan who has never known anything but a ravaged planet and who struggles to balance her instinct for anger and defiance with her need for connection and belonging… as well as the newfound reality that she may be the key to saving the world”; Anna Torv as Tess, “a smuggler and hardened survivor in a post-pandemic world”; Gabriel Luna as Joel’s brother Tommy, “a former soldier who hasn’t lost his sense of idealism and hope for a better world”; Merle Dandridge as Marlene, “the head of the Fireflies, a resistance movement struggling for freedom against an oppressive military regime”; Nico Parker as Joel’s daughter Sarah; Jeffrey Pierce as Perry, “a rebel in a quarantine zone”; Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett as Bill and Frank, “two post-pandemic survivalists living alone in their own isolated town”; and Storm Reid as Ellie’s best friend Riley.

Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, who did the motion-capture performances for Joel and Ellie in the video game, are also in the cast of the show. Baker plays James, “a senior member of a group of settlers who must fight to keep their community alive in the face of increasingly brutal odds.” Baker also hosts a podcast that will serve as a companion to the TV series. Johnson’s character is Anna, “a pregnant woman, alone and on the run, who must give birth under the most terrifying of circumstances.”

Mazin and Druckmann are directors on the series, as are Kantemir Balagov (Beanpole), Jasmila Zbanic (Quo vadis, Aida), Peter Hoar (Doctor Who), Jeremy Webb (The Punisher), and Liza Johnson (What We Do in the Shadows).

The Last of Us is a co-production with Sony Pictures Television, PlayStation Productions, Word Games, The Mighty Mint, and game developer Naughty Dog. Druckmann serves as executive producer alongside Carolyn Strauss, Naughty Dog’s Evan Wells, Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan of PlayStation Productions, and Mazin.

Are you disappointed to hear that The Last of Us season 2 probably won’t premiere until late 2024 or early 2025? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.