Take a look at The Last of Us 2 coming together with machete-twirling chaos and mocap horses

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The Last of Us 2 is coming together in a motion capture studio somewhere in Los Angeles, and it has horses, machetes, and lots of green dots on people's faces. Ellie actress Ashley Johnson tweeted out this photo of her and Joel actor Troy Baker, showing them both all suited up in the studio (she was already putting in hours way back in December). Does this go against those "Joel is dead" theories? I dunno, if he was a ghost/delusion in the teaser he could totally show up as a ghost/delusion in the game, too.

The behind-the-scenes looks get stranger from there. Here's a video from creative director Neil Druckmann of Shannon Woodward flipping around a dang machete. Well, it's just a plastic blue toy machete for now, but it will probably look a lot more threatening in the real game. You might recognize Woodward as the Host-sympathizing behaviorist from Westworld - she didn't appear in the first game so "machete enthusiast" is the only clue we have for her The Last of Us 2 character.

The best photo, though, is another one taken by Druckmann. His co-writer Halley Gross probably doesn't actually appear in the game so don't get start getting ideas about horseback shotgun charges. But that horse mockup means more equine adventures are very likely on the way. Hopefully your horse friend doesn't meet the same tragic end as poor old Callus, Joel and Ellie's steed from the first game.

If we're lucky, they're getting some good work done in that performance capture studio and not just horsing around all the time. You know, because we still don't have a release date for The Last of Us 2. And horses. I'm sorry. I'll let myself out right after I plug some of our other articles.

Check out our full news roundup on The Last of Us 2 for more details and some of the themes The Last of Us 2 may explore. Going now...

Connor Sheridan
Connor Sheridan
Former GamesRadar+ News Writer

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar+.