The Last of Us series adds another cast member as a mysterious new character

The Last of Us series has quietly added another actor – but there’s a catch: he’s seemingly not playing a named character from either of Naughty Dog’s games.

As spotted on The Last of Us HBO subreddit, Friday Night Lights actor Brad Leland told the A-List Productions YouTube channel that he has already filmed some scenes in Canada for the series.

While IMDb has him listed as playing ‘Mr. Adler’, there’s been no official confirmation either way on whether that's correct. There is some evidence mounting up to support that, however.

The Last of Us Updates account on Twitter has pieced previous casting calls involving schoolchildren, as well as school buses with a Texas license plate (where the game’s prologue is set) to suggest that Leland could be playing a teacher.

If you’ve ever trudged your way through The Last of Us series you’ll know that – mild spoilers – there aren’t any teachers or schools to speak of, outside of a Bloater battle in a school gymnasium.

Leland’s inclusion as Mr. Adler would hint at something that’s already been discussed by Last of Us series co-creator Craig Mazin: the show won’t follow the exact path of the games. We could even be seeing more of the pre-outbreak world than we originally expected.

"The changes that we're making are designed to fill things out and expand, not to undo, but rather to enhance," Mazin previously told the BBC.

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.