Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Last of Us Part 2 which may spoil elements of The Last of Us Season 2.
Summary
The Last of UsSeason 2 is set to be a heart-wrenching sequel to the original season. Even darker days lie ahead for our beloved lead characters, reaffirmed recently by a new cast member on the red carpet.
The Last of Usvideo game is considered an all-time classic, mostly due to the story’s tight narrative structure, complex characters, and devastating twists. The first game was brutal, but itskillfully balanced a complicated atmosphere of bleakness, usually followed up by a sliver of hope. Its sequel,The Last of Us Part II(2020), drifted away from this optimistic silver lining and went all-in on a dark examination of revenge. It would be a fair estimation to say that this didn’t go down well with everyone.
The Hollywood Reportermanaged to pin down Danny Ramirezon the red carpet for Captain America: Brave New World. Ramirez plays Manny, a fairly important side character to a gripping sequence in the second game. Manny is also friends with Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), the overarching antagonist ofThe Last of Us Part IIand the upcoming sequel season. So, Ramirez can give fans some insight as to what they can expect from her involvement in the story:
“It’s gonna mess people up.”
Are Ramirez’s words awarning sign of things to come?The Last of Us Part IIsparked anger in the gaming community for its unflinching ability to kill off its main characters. Critics applauded it, a large portion of the fandom was underwhelmed by it, and nowThe Last of UsSeason 2 could be in danger of inheriting some of the second game’s baggage.
Will Season 2 Change The Sequel Game’s Most Controversial Moment?
Beware! For those who haven’t playedThe Last of Us Part II,major spoilersare below for the upcoming season.
At the end ofThe Last of Us Part I, Joel (Pedro Pascal) is by no means a morally righteous individual. The Fireflies, a revolutionary militia trying to develop a cure, are massacred by him inSaint Mary’s Hospitalas he tries to rescue Ellie (Bella Ramsey) from certain death. But by the end of the story, gamers had come to care for this tragic anti-hero.The Last of Us Part IIsought to challenge Joel’s honor, framing theevents of the hospital massacre from Abby’s POV. It’s revealed that Joel murdered her father in the slaughter, and Season 1 leans into portraying this act as cold, brutal, and bloody.
For all of Abby’s faults, can she really be blamed for hating Joel? His desire to save Ellie was sincere, but when viewed subjectively from the Fireflies'—and pretty much anyone else’s—perspective, the protagonist ended the world’s only hope to end the spread of the Cordyceps infection. Although this was an interesting development in the first game’s story, it does not mean that every part of this vision was well-executed.
TheLast of Us Part IIinelegantly separated both Ellie and Abby’s stories into two separate chunks,amounting to 20–25 hours of game time.For many, it was an absolute slog to get through, especially with this sequel’s much gloomier tone. The patchwork chronology of this narrative also failed to get gamers invested in Abby as a character, which was an essential component to exploring both sides of this moral deconstruction. It had players sit through Ellie’s story arc first, and unfortunately, her Act began with the game’s most controversial moment.
Many fans were devastated to learn that they’d only have a couple of hours of screen time with Joel. Abby brutally murders the character in a scene that continues to divide the fandom intensely. In the cutscene, the former Firefly gruesomely beats up Joel with a golf club. All the while, Ellie is forced to watch. It was a harrowing moment that turned many gamers against Abby, and made it much harder for them to feel invested in her story arc in the long-run.
Joel’s exit was also seen as poorly executed at the time.Pewdiepie, one of the largest voices in YouTubegaming back in 2020, was one of many online personalities to react negatively to the stories' key turning point.
In the aftermath of Joel’s demise, the famed and controversial YouTuber paused the game to wearily give his thoughts: “I don’t want to play anymore… What just happened?” Not many would dispute that Joel’s death was fairly inevitable in this unforgiving post-apocalyptic world, but gamers took issue with its suddenness, believing it was done in poor taste. Say what you want about him overall, Pewdiepie summed up what many fans were feeling at the time:
“It happened right away. We’ve barely gotten started on the game and they just killed Joel? Why? Couldn’t they have waited at least if they wanted to kill off a character?”
Now, with Season 2 on the horizon, will showrunners Craig Mazin and creator Neil Druckmann seek to change the time, place, and way in which its lead character exits the show?
The Adaptation Is Going In A Slightly Different Direction
Changes are being made to Abby(Kaitlyn Dever) inThe Last of Us’screen adaptation. Most notably, her physique is drastically different to how she appears in the games. Dever has already gone to great lengths to put a positive spin on things and reassure anxious online fans that she is here to make her TV portrayal something that audiences can be proud of:
“It’s hard not to see those things on the internet. It’s hard not to stop myself from looking at it every once in a while, especially going into this, for sure. And I want to do this character justice and make the fans proud by bringing her to life.”
Mazin and Druckmann have also previously made alterations toThe Last of Us’plot throughout Season 1. Episode 3, “Long, Long Time” transformed Frank’s (Murray Bartlett) and Bill’s (Nick Offerman) backstory almost completely, and to great effect.In an interview earlier in February, the duo signaled that they were once again “going to mess around with time the way it was in the source material” and make “some deviations of where we place things”. So, the chronology of events in the second game may be up for a rearrangement. The execution of Joel’s death, and the moment it takes place in the story, has probably been moved to a later point to give audiences a smoother ride in Season 2. However, Ramirez’s comments are somewhat telling, and fans should still be prepared to lose characters near and dear to their hearts.
The Last of UsSeason 2 will be released via HBO on Sunday, July 28, 2025.
The Last Of Us
Cast
Based on Naughty Dog’s popular PlayStation game, HBO’s The Last of Us takes place decades after a fungal infection eradicated most of humanity. When a teenage girl named Ellie is found to be immune to the disease, Joel agrees to smuggle her across the United States.
