The Last of Us season 2 is "ready to go" as soon as the strikes end

The Last of Us showrunner has confirmed that work will be able to start on the second season of the post-apocalyptic series as soon as the ongoing actors' and writers' strikes come to an end.

"We've outlined all of season 2 and we're ready to go as soon as the strike ends," Neil Druckmann said in a new interview with EW. WGA and SAG-AFTRA, the Hollywood writing and acting unions, have been on strike since May and July, respectively, over fights for fairer pay and the use of AI. 

The show's first season led the way with nominations for this year's Emmys, earning a total of 25. This includes Outstanding Drama Series and an acting nod for Joel actor Pedro Pascal. It also set records for HBO and HBO Max with its viewership figures – over the course of its first six episodes, it averaged 30.4 million viewers per episode, the highest average figure since Game of Thrones season 7 aired in 2017.

There will be a time jump between season 1 and season 2, in line with the one between the two installments of the game source material, and will see the introduction of a new character from the games: Abby. Co-showrunner Craig Mazin recently confirmed that she's already been cast, but the name of the actor is still being kept under wraps.

The Last of Us season 2 doesn't have a release date yet. While we wait for the next installment of the show to arrive on the small screen, check out our picks of the other best new TV shows on the way in 2023 and beyond.