“The Last of Us” actor Gabriel Luna is ready to return as Tommy for Season 2 of HBO’s hit adaptation, and he teased a bit of what to expect at HBO Max’s “The Last of Us” SXSW Conversation over the weekend ahead of the Season 1 finale.
Luna plays Tommy, the younger brother of Joel (Pedro Pascal), who joins the Firefly rebels and lives in a safe, civilized settlement in Jackson, Wyo. He’s first introduced in the Episode 1 opening flashback, where Tommy, Joel and Joel’s daughter Sarah (Nico Parker) escape the cordyceps fungus outbreak in Austin, Tex. — which is coincidentally Luna’s hometown and the location of the SXSW festival. Twenty years later, Tommy reunites with Joel in Jackson after Joel transports Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across the country. Tommy is now settled own, married to his wife Maria (Rutina Wesley) and has a child on the way.
As fans of the original “The Last of Us” video game and its “Part II” sequel know, Tommy plays a large role in the follow-up, which will be explored in Season 2 of the HBO series. The “Part II” story is — believe it or not — even bleaker than the original game, and Luna played through both to prepare for his role.
He teased that Tommy goes through a “de-evolution” in the sequel, plus there are “a lot of peaks and some deep, deep valleys.”
“Because I played the games back to back, it’s one story in my mind. I prepped for it in that way,” he said. “You never want to assume you’re gonna get a Season 2, but considering it’s probably the biggest show in the world and they renewed us for Season 2, it’s probably good I have a head start thinking about it. The idea of everything that happens in ‘Part II’ was always ever-present in my mind. When working on the story we’ve told thus far, you gotta consider where you’re going with all the peaks and valleys. You don’t want play the end, but you certainly want to keep it in mind as you’re rolling forward and building the character. There’s a lot of peaks and there’s some deep, deep valleys. As much as Tommy is an evolved person, and he’s evolving, there’s certainly a de-evolution that happens in ‘Part II.’ Which is probably the extent I can say about it.”
Creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have already said they envision “more than one season” to tell the entire “Part II” video game story for TV. As for Luna, he is patiently waiting to see the Season 2 scripts, after the finale aired on Sunday night.
“I know the story, but no,” he said when asked if he’s gotten the scripts. “If there are any, I haven’t gotten my hands on them yet. Which is fine, I’m a patient person.”
