Happy cordyceps outbreak day, folks! In the videogame The Last of Us, September 26th is the day the cordyceps virus goes apeshit on humankind—so, naturally, it’s the day we get a new look at the second season of HBO’s The Last of Us, which jumps five years into Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie’s (Bella Ramsey) future. Do you think everything’s great and all their problems are solved? Nah. There’s a whole horde of infected coming for them—and a whole bunch of new characters with agendas of their own.
This trailer gives us a good look at Dina (Isabela Merced), whose intentions are written all over her face as she gazes at Ellie, and also Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), a character so contentious that Dever needed extra security while filming. The rest of the new cast includes Jeffrey Wright (playing Isaac), Young Mazino (Jesse), Ariela Barer (Mel), Tati Gabrielle (Nora), Spencer Lord (Owen), Danny Ramirez (Manny), and Catherine O’Hara, whose character has not been named. Returning cast includes Gabriel Luna as Joel’s brother Tommy and Rutina Wesley as Maria.
O’Hara gets all the dialogue in this trailer, which is framed in much the same way previous footage was: O’Hara and Joel in a tense conversation, with wordless footage interspersed to give a sense of what the gang faces in the next season. Gamers and those of us who read spoilers about the game (for work purposes, obviously) know exactly how heavy things are going to get—and anyone who watched the first season knows there’s a reckoning coming between Joel and Ellie when she finds out about the choice he made.
The brief summary offered for season two says, “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.”
The Last of Us, which is written and executive produced by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, will return to HBO and Max in 2025.
