The Last Of Us 2 stars Ellie as the playable character and is a story about hate: "she's seen some sh*t"

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The Last of Us 2 is a thing now. And, following its announcement at the PlayStation Experience, director Neil Druckmann and cast member Ashley Johnson have talked more about the sequel. 

To start with Druckmann expands a little on the new game's plot saying that "if the first game was really about the love between these two characters, this story is the counter of that. This is story is about hate, through Ellie this time. The first game you play as Joel, this game you play as Ellie." He very safely concludes, "that's all I'm going to say at this time".

In terms of the setting he went on to explain that The Last of Us 2 takes place a few years after the first game, and that Ellie is now 19. As far as concerns that the ambiguous ending of the last game would be spoiled by explaining more about it, he had this to say: 

"So much thought went into this. I know a lot of people that feel this trepidation about revisiting these characters and revisiting what that ending means, and worrying whether that's going to spoil that last game. And you have to understand that no one loves these characters more than we do, and we would not do this if we didn't feel like we didn't have the right idea.

The sequel will apparently "really double down" on the ideas of the previous game. With Druckmann adding that, "we really believe in this so much. I played around with so many ideas that had different characters and it never felt right." For those who thought the last story said all it had to say Druckmann has this: "The Last of Us is about these characters specifically. Part 2 is a complementary story to the last game and together it's going to tell a larger story. All I ask is that fans of the first one put some faith in us, trust we're going to do right by them." Just in case you weren't sure about Ellie and Joel being in the sequel, Druckmann added that "They are the heart of it. I don's see it without them."

And, if you were wondering about Ellie's shaking hand at the start of the trailer, Ashley Johnson, who plays Ellie, had this to say: "There are reasons. She’s gone through some shit." 

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Leon Hurley
Leon Hurley
Managing editor for guides

I'm GamesRadar's Managing Editor for guides. I also write reviews, previews and features, largely about horror, action adventure, FPS and open world games. I previously worked on Kotaku, and the Official PlayStation Magazine and website.