SPOILER alert:This contains spoilers from the Season 1 finale of “The Last of Us,” now streaming on HBO Max.
“The Last of Us” was officially renewed for a Season 2 by HBO in January, but the creators are planning “more than one season” to tell the much larger story from the video game’s sequel, “The Last of Us: Part II.”
Released on the PlayStation 4 in 2020, seven years after the original game debuted, “The Last of Us: Part II” tells a bigger, more complex story than its predecessor. There are many more characters, flashbacks and action set pieces, and the creators of the HBO adaptation, Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, confirmed to GQ that the events of “Part II” will span more than one season.
When asked if Season 2 will include the entire “Part II” story, Mazin said, “No. No way.” Druckmann added, “It’s more than one season.”
The creators wouldn’t reveal if the “Part II” story would get two or three seasons to fully tell it, but Mazin said, “You have noted correctly that we will not say how many. But more than one is factually correct.”
“The Last of Us: Part II” returns several of the core characters from “Part I,” including Joel (played by Pedro Pascal on the HBO series), Ellie (Bella Ramsey), Tommy, (Gabriel Luna), Maria (Rutina Wesley) plus some important, new characters who get fully fleshed-out storylines. One of the major actors from “Part II,” Laura Bailey, who plays a key character named Abby, actually had a subtle cameo in HBO’s Season 1 finale on Sunday night. She’s credited as one of the nurses in the operating room of the Salt Lake City hospital, where Ellie is being prepped for surgery. She’s joined by another nurse, and they look on horrified as Joel barges in, kills the head surgeon and escapes with Ellie back to Jackson.
Though HBO has not officially greenlit anything beyond a Season 2 for its “The Last of Us” series, Mazin and Druckmann already teased more action and infected zombies to come. Addressing some viewers’ complaints about the lack of major action set pieces in Season 1, Mazin said, “There is more ‘The Last of Us’ to come. It’s quite possible that there will be a lot more infected later. And perhaps different kinds.”
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