Season 2 of The Last of Us concludes next Sunday, and HBO has now shared a series of new promo stills and two clips teasing what's to come in what promises to be an eventful and intense episode.
Spoilers for previous episodes and (potentially) the finale follow.
The penultimate episode, "The Price," consisted of a series of flashbacks to Joel and Ellie's life in Jackson prior to the former's death at the hands of Abby. We learned that Ellie did speak to Joel on his porch the night of the New Year's Eve dance, telling him that she would "like to try" to forgive him for his murderous actions in Salt Lake City back in the season 1 finale.
We are now building to a face-off between Ellie and Abby, but will we see it this Sunday? Without giving too much away for anyone who hasn't played the video game, there will be a confrontation - but viewers should probably manage their expectations!
Whatever happens in next week's episode, there's no way it will cover the remaining events of the video game, and showrunner Craig Mazin believes a fourth season may be required to complete the story.
“I think there’s a decent chance Season 3 will be longer than Season 2, just because the manner of that narrative and the opportunities it affords us are a little different,” Mazin, who is also a director and writer on the show, told Collider. “The thing about Joel’s death is that it’s so impactful. It’s such a narrative nuclear bomb that it’s hard to wander away from it. We can’t really take a break and move off to the side and do a Bill and Frank story."
“I’m not sure that will be necessarily true for Season 3. I think we’ll have a little more room there. But certainly, there’s no way to complete this narrative in a third season. Hopefully, we’ll earn our keep enough to come back and finish it in a fourth. That’s the likely outcome.”
Check out the images and clips at the links below.
New cast members for season 2 include Kaitlyn Dever (Booksmart) as Abby, Young Mazino (Beef) as Jesse, Danny Ramirez (Top Gun: Maverick) as Manny, Ariela Barer (How to Blow Up a Pipeline) as Mel, Tati Gabrielle (You) as Nora, and Spencer Lord (Heartland) as Owen.
The Last of Us is set 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed and centers on the relationship between Joel, a smuggler in this new world, and Ellie, a teenager who may be key to a cure for a deadly pandemic. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle the 14-year-old girl out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal, heartbreaking journey as they traverse the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.
Season 1's cast also featured Gabriel Luna as Tommy, Anna Torv as Tess, Nico Parker as Sarah, Murray Bartlett as Frank, Nick Offerman as Bill, Melanie Lynskey as Kathleen, Storm Reid as Riley, Merle Dandridge as Marlene, Jeffrey Pierce as Perry, Lamar Johnson as Henry, Keivonn Woodard as Sam, Graham Greene as Marlon, Elaine Miles as Florence, Ashley Johnson as Anna, and Troy Baker as James.
Filming took place in Vancouver, since a significant part of the story in The Last of Us Part II game is set in the Pacific Northwest.
The Last of Us is written and executive produced by Mazin and Druckmann. Carolyn Strauss, Evan Wells, Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan, and Rose Lam also executive produce.
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