The Last of Us star Troy Baker says he would be up for anything when it comes to continuing the Naughty Dog series.

Spoilers for The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part 2 follow

Speaking to Insider Gaming, Baker was asked about the potential for a prequel game focusing on his character, Joel, and his brother, Tommy (played by Jeffrey Pierce), before Ellie was even born.

Baker responds simply, "I would be on board with anything." He explains, "If Neil [Druckmann] decides that he has a place for me, then I’ve learned at this point to listen to him, because he’s really smart."

As for the idea itself, Baker adds, "There’s this beautiful thing about the mystery of what happened between Tommy and Joel, there is all the time, the 20 years, you’ve got such beautiful lore to choose from. I think that makes a great foundation for a story."

Now, a prequel is seemingly the only way Baker could return to the series in a substantial way, given that Joel dies in a freak golfing accident in the opening hours of The Last of Us Part 2, thus taking a sequel appearance off the cards. However, Baker adds, "I’ve also learned to trust Naughty Dog, and maybe there’s a whole other story there that we’re not thinking about."

"I’m going to let Neil and Naughty Dog decide, as we look forward, are we looking back? Are we going to revisit something? Or are we going to continue to reinvent. That’s their call," Baker explains, adding, "whether it is something that you are playing, or with me with a controller in hand, I’m there day one."

Both Baker and The Last of Us series director Neil Druckmann are currently busy on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet at Naughty Dog. And given it's been over six years since the studio's previous title, the potential for a The Last of Us continuation is probably not likely in the near future. However, teasers that a new entry could be on the way have come from the likes of Druckmann and Baker over the years. However, if it is a sequel, Baker's role would likely be relegated to flashback scenes.

"We had influenced the industry" – The Last of Us and God of War tackling "serious, emotional subjects" made the creator of a PS3 classic feel like they had left their mark

It looks like Abby has yet another enemy to face in The Last of Us season 3, as the HBO show has added another significant Seraphite.

Peter Sarsgaard, who played ill-fated DA Gil Colson in The Batman, among many other roles, has been cast as a Seraphite leader named Amon, as reported by Deadline. We don't know much about Amon, as the character is new to the show, and doesn't appear in the Naughty Dog game, which the show closely adapts. However, if he is anything like the Seraphites in The Last of Us season 2, both Abby and Lev better watch their backs.

The Seraphites are a religious cult that believes the apocalypse and the Cordyceps brain infection came as a punishment from God for human sin. In The Last of Us Part II, the group is colloquially known as the Scars, due to their 'Glasgow Smiles.' Abby and Ellie frequently encounter members of the group when travelling around Seattle.

In the show, the cult is split into different groups led by prophets that all spread the same message. When we first meet the Seraphites, they seem peaceful, and it is unclear why the Wolves target them. However, as the second season goes on, the group becomes more violent. In one scene, a young Seraphite spots Ellie, and the group prepares to sacrifice her, but she escapes.

It is not clear how big of a role Sarsgaard will play, as season 3 has been filming since March. However, production has been paused for about a month. This may be due to the FIFA World Cup, as Vancouver, where much of The Last of Us is filmed, is due to host one of the tournaments. This shouldn't disrupt filming too much, though, as Deadline reports that production is expected to go on until the end of 2026.

Season 2 of The Last of Us followed the battle with the WLF from Ellie's side, but right at the end, as teased in the finale, there is a reset, with season 3 expected to go over the same events from Abby's perspective. This mimics the structure of the second game, which tells overlapping stories from opposing sides.

The Last of Us season 3 is expected to premiere on HBO in 2027. For more, check out our guide to the best shows on HBO Max, and keep up with new TV shows on the way.

Many of the world's greatest successes had doubters at one point or another. Speed metal pioneers Motorhead were voted the 'Worst Band in the World' by NME ahead of their debut album, and the script for Back to the Future was famously rejected dozens of times before it went into production. The Last of Us is no different, as a higher-up at Sony failed to see the potential of the zombie horror on first impression.

"Some high-level executive at Sony looked at the game, and was supposed to give a marketing budget for The Last of Us, looked at it and said, 'It's not going to do very well, I think it just needs a small marketing budget,'" Quentin Cobb, a former designer on The Last of Us, tells Kiwi Talkz (video below).

"People did not know how good that game was," he says. "Even inside the studio. Where we were done, there were some people that were like, 'I don't know if it's going to be good, I don't know if people are going to get it.'"

At risk of stating the obvious, Joel and Ellie's journey across the Cordyceps-torn United States managed to strike a chord with players the world over, to the point that it's one of the biggest PlayStation series ever. That's quite the feat considering there are only two actual entries.

But, as Cobb explains, the first installment arrived in a different landscape within Naughty Dog. "They had just done Uncharted 3," he points out. "And going to The Last of Us, it was just so different. That's an intense, pretty wild game, if you think about it, in 2013. People didn't know."

Even beyond the contrast between Nathan Drake's harebrained misadventures and crawling through infestations of zombified people, The Last of Us was bigger and more mainstream than survival horror tends to be. The Silent Hill and Resident Evil games had production values and big fanbases, sure, but without crunching any numbers, I doubt they were ever on the same scale as what Naughty Dog commanded as a flagship studio for Sony.

And now it's a successful TV show and all! Somehow, I don't think anyone at HBO doubted whether it would do numbers.

"We had influenced the industry" – The Last of Us and God of War tackling "serious, emotional subjects" made the creator of a PS3 classic feel like they had left their mark

A dev behind the canceled The Last of Us Online game says it was the best multiplayer game he had ever played, and he strives to never let a project die again.

The director of The Last of Us Online – which was originally going to be a part of The Last of Us Part 2 as Factions mode – Vinit Agarwal recently took to Twitter (spotted by PC Gamer), saying that "it's wild how many of my ex-colleagues still message me today saying how amazing TLOU Online was going to be," and that they think it's "still the best multiplayer game they've ever played." Back when the game was canceled, one dev called it "the highlight of my career."

Of course, like we've heard many times in recent years with Sony-backed live service titles, The Last of Us Online was eventually canceled – with Agarwal previously saying it was about 80% complete in a recent interview – however, he pledges in the tweet that he is "never going to let what I work on not see the light of day again."

Frankly, even if "best multiplayer game ever" could be seen as a bit hyperbolic, I could believe The Last of Us Online was a banger. For all its faults, The Last of Us Part 2 had great gameplay, and for a studio that has pivoted so hard into single-player cinematic-focused titles, Naughty Dog was shockingly good as a multiplayer dev. The multiplayer mode in Uncharted 2 was an absolute banger in an era where every game had a tacked on multiplayer addition, and The Last of Us 1's multiplayer mode was a tense and fantastic time. That's not to mention that Crash Team Racing is probably the studio's best game ever.

The Last of Us Part 2's major death "was controversial internally too," says former Naughty Dog dev: "The studio was pretty split."

The Last of Us Part 2's decision to kill off a major character had the developers at Naughty Dog split, according to a former dev.

On the off chance you know anything about The Last of Us Part 2 but have somehow avoided knowing about the game's major death, spoilers ahead.

Speaking to Kiwi Talkz, Heather Cerlan – a former Naughty Dog artist who worked on The Last of Us and Uncharted series – was asked if the studio knew that The Last of Us 2 was going to be controversial ahead of its release. She responds, "Oh yeah, most of the studio was like, 'really you're going to...'" before pausing for the sake of spoilers. But of course, we're talking about Joel getting killed off in the opening hours of the game.

Cerlan continues, "I think the studio was pretty split on the outcome of what happens," saying "it was controversial internally too." And of course, it ended up pretty controversial outside of the studio, too, with the leaked plot details ahead of The Last of Us Part 2's release setting off an online discourse that was as obnoxious as it was for Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Personally I'm in the camp of there shouldn't have been a sequel to The Last of Us in the first place, but if you have to do one, killing off Joel pretty much has to be a given, because really, what else is there to do with him after his arc in the first game? Him getting got after his actions at the end of the The Last of Us Part 1 – which was originally way more interesting without a sequel and co-creator Neil Druckmann ruining any of the interesting ambiguity it had left by saying a cure would've been made from Ellie's sacrifice – was the natural conclusion to that.

The Last of Us star Troy Baker says "we've not seen the last of Joel," teases more could come from Naughty Dog "or somebody else."

Presuming we do get The Last of Us Part 3 at some point – and as much doesn't seem unlikely – Joel probably won't be in it. No spoilers yet, but if you know you know. Nonetheless, Troy Baker, the voice actor behind the grizzled protagonist of the first Last of Us game, believes we'll see him again in some shape or form.

OK, we're about to get into spoiler territory if you've not played The Last of Us Part 2 or watched the second season of the TV show.

In a surprise twist, the former opens with Joel getting killed by a vengeful Abby for his actions in the first game, and the latter adapts this plot point wholesale. Baker didn't enjoy the moment any more the second time around, and hopes to see more performers besides himself and Pedro Pascal – Joel's actor in the HBO series – take on the mantle.

"I hope that Pedro is not the last person to play Joel," he tells Eurogamer. "I want to see this character be proliferated and iterated on in multiple mediums, whether it be TV, film, more games, comic books. I see people that cosplay as [Joel] all the time – he made an impact."

Sure enough, walking the floor of any pop culture or games convention, you're likely to spot someone in Joel's trademark dark green plaid, potentially with an Ellie in tow. They are both icons of the medium, despite how little material we've seen them in. Nonetheless, Baker is adamant we'll be seeing more of Joel at some point.

"I definitely know we've not seen the last of Joel, whether that be Naughty Dog or somebody else," he states. The definitive nature of his statement makes me think he's perhaps aware of some spin-off or other that's in the works – or he's just manifesting more work for himself.

Either way, I can believe it. If Naughty Dog itself is working on The Last of Us 3, giving another Sony team – or even Baker's own outfit which he's mulling over – some form of prequel that features Joel during the earlier years of the Cordyceps onslaught doesn't seem unlikely. The show is already running out of game narrative to adapt, no doubt prompting discussions behind the scenes of how quickly more chapters can be created.

There's also the possibility of a Joel-centric TV series or other material, since the HBO adaptation's been such a success. We could speculate forever, as the point is the possibility is high. We'll see what emerges.

The Last of Us and Death Stranding actor Troy Baker has worked with Neil Druckmann, Hideo Kojima, and many more – Now he wants to create a studio and "tell my own stories."

The Last of Us and Death Stranding actor Troy Baker says he's looking into building a game studio of his own.

Speaking to Kinda Funny Games, Baker is asked about his desire to make games, and explains, "To be able to take those tenets and principles, lessons and losses and be able to form something new out of that. I want to tell my own stories. "I want to proliferate the wisdom and the experience that those other great studios - and bad - have given me and be able to fold that into new experiences and try my hand at it."

He continues, "I want to build a team. I am excited about building a studio with people that I've worked with, that I trust, and going, 'Here's my idea. How can you make it better?'" And as for when this may come to fruition, Baker notes that the only timeframe in mind is "not rushed." He explains, "I've seen a lot of people who have rushed into opportunities, and I want to do it right.

And especially if I'm going to create a studio where other people are going to be responsible for my choices, I have to make the right ones."

In an interview with Eurogamer, Baker also notes, "I've had an incredible opportunity working with the best in this industry, it's insane - Ken Levine, Hideo Kojima, Neil Druckmann, Todd Howard, Vince Zampella - these people are paragons of the industry. I've worked with these people, and I've learned so much from them."

Prominent voice actors starting game studios has become a thing in recent years, with Assassin's Creed Origins star Abubakar Salim founding Surgent Studios, developer of Tales of Kenzera: Zau and Dead Take, while Date Everything was designed by Final Fantasy 15 lead Ray Chase, with Sassy Chap Games also founded by Persona 5 actors Robbie Daymond and Max Mittelman.

Voice actors as widely cast as Baker will undoubtedly know many people in the industry, and new jobs entering the games industry at a time when layoffs are so prominent can only be a good thing.

Death Stranding creator Hideo Kojima is "not running out of ideas anytime soon," Higgs actor says

A former Naughty Dog developer claims that co-director Neil Druckmann has plans for an entire group of immune survivors in The Last of Us universe.

The Last of Us Part 3 is by no means in development, as far as we know, but that hasn't stopped fans from wildly speculating about the shroomified series and developers from slyly teasing a continuation. Enter former Naughty Dog lighting artist, Gabriel Betancourt, a developer who's just spilled the beans on what a theoretical third part might look like.

Speaking to Kiwi Talkz, Betancourt recalls a conversation that he apparently had with Neil Druckmann about Ellie's immunity to the fungal virus that turns seemingly everyone else into a flesh-eating monster. In that conversation, Druckmann allegedly revealed that "several people are immune" and "there's a whole congregation of that kind of person."

Betancourt also remembers Druckmann saying, "What I want to do is I want to tell a more sophistication story" with "multiple characters and kind of expand on that."

Ellie's immunity is obviously integral to The Last of Us. The entire first game is all about escorting her to the Fireflies to potentially invent a cure, but more than that, her possibly being the only person immune to the cordyceps is what fuels most of the story's drama - it's what makes Joel's decision at the end so divisive, it's what informs her guilt and complicates her grief in the sequel.

As Betancourt mentions, adding a group of other immune survivors might take away from the "gravity" of both The Last of Us games, even if it doesn't absolve Joel since, you know, he doesn't know this group actually exists. He's just hoping they do.

And, of course, it's entirely possible Druckmann's plans have changed in the years since Betancourt's departure from the studio since that storyline invites so many questions, like, how would a group of immune people even be able to find each other? Maybe it all goes back to the Fireflies again, who were teased at the end of the second game, but we won't know until The Last of Us Part 3 maybe, eventually, becomes a reality.

Speaking of which, a former Naughty Dog lead recently hinted the developer's been making a secret game for the last three years, hot off the heels of Druckmann vagueposting about the franchise.

OG Last of Us designer is still "pissed" about Naughty Dog re-doing his work for the remake: "It is literally taking my scripts, pushing delete, and putting all new scripts in"

For players like myself, The Last of Us Part 1 is a gorgeous modernization of one of the greatest survival horror games ever made, but for some of the developers who worked on the original game, the remake is a "sour spot" because it straight-up replaces many of the assets and systems they created. At the very least, it's still a major pain point for original Last of Us combat designer Benson Russell, who gave an impassioned explanation in a recent interview.

Russell, who was senior game designer at Naughty Dog when he left in 2015 after eight years with the studio, recently sat down with Kiwi Talkz and opened up about what it was like to see a ground-up remake of The Last of Us.

"When they put out The Last of Us Part 1 where they reworked the game and they used The Last of Us 2 tech to re-do the combat encounters and other things, that really fucking pissed me off, and it still does," says Russell. "That one's a sour spot for me."

These days, anyone wanting to play The Last of Us can still play the 2014 remaster, which hasn't been pulled from the PlayStation Store. It's also worth noting that the remaster is bundled into the PlayStation Plus Premium plan, so it's not like Sony is ignoring it entirely. That said, if you're looking to play The Last of Us on PC, your only option is the remake unless you want to mess with emulators. Naughty Dog has also billed The Last of Us Part 1 as "the definitive version" of the game, something that exacerbates Russell's contention with how the remake was handled.

"It is literally taking my scripts, pushing delete, and putting all new scripts in," Russell says. "So that's taking my actual work, the spawners I placed in the editor, what I called them, putting in the actual scripts that I wrote to make the combat work the way it's supposed to ... That was a fuck load of work, and so when The Last of Us Part 1 comes out and like, every single combat encounter is re-done, I'm like, uh, yeah."

Russell also pointed out that the original artwork on 2013's The Last of Us was completely re-worked for the remake, which is definitely an inherent sacrifice in most video game remakes, but Russell's disagreement seems to come from the fact that Naughty Dog advertises the remake as the best way to play the game.

"Seriously, it still irks me to the point where I'm like, 'fuck you guys.' There's no greater slap in the face to people that put their blood, sweat, and tears into something than to say, you know what, 'we're gonna recreate it.' And, it's not just that you're re-creating it. This is the version you're pushing now. You're like, 'this is the definitive version of this experience.'"

Russell acknowledged that different artists and game devs will feel differently about having their work recreated, saying he doesn't have a problem with remasters that simply upscale existing assets, but he draws a line at ditching stuff altogether and then pushing the newly remade game.

"'Well, your work is what led up to this'. I'm like, 'fuck that.' No. No, no, no. I don't care if you were inspired by the original combat I did. You deleted my work. You deleted it. You took it out," Russell says. "Yeah, so, that's a sour spot for me. That's the one time I came to realize, like, no, you can actually have your history erased out of a game."

I'm reticent to editorialize much here as someone who's never been a part of making a game, but I get the impression that Russell's feelings toward remakes are more nuanced than a wholesale distaste. Kiwi Talkz host Reece Reilly brought up the Resident Evil remakes as examples of "totally remade" games that exist separately from the original games and aren't intended to replace anything, and Russell nodded in agreement that the situation with The Last of Us is different. Although the remaster is still available, its future definitely isn't as certain as iconic retro games like Resident Evil 1 and 2, which will almost certainly be preserved on storefronts like Steam and GOG for decades to come.

The Last of Us Part 3 hopium will never die as former Naughty Dog lead confirms the studio's secret game besides Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet has been in the works for at least 3 years

The Last of Us Online's game director Vinit Agarwal has shared that the multiplayer spin-off game was scrapped in part to make room for Naughty Dog's next single-player offering, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.

Per an interview with Lance E. Lee, the canceled game's director reveals the project was essentially a victim of the post-Covid video game boom. As he explains, PlayStation and countless other publishers saw gamers spending more time and money in online games than ever – no surprise there, everyone was stuck inside – but the dramatic growth didn't last long once lockdown had ended.

That's when Naughty Dog came to an impasse of sorts. "Basically, at one point, a decision had to be made: Make this game or make the next game that Neil Druckmann was directing, the president of the company," Agarwal recalls, nodding his head at the studio's upcoming space romp, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.

"So, kind of naturally you can understand what happened there," he adds. "They had to pick the game that was kind of the whole bread and butter of the studio rather than this experimental game we were working on, that I believe was gonna be really big, but unfortunately couldn't see the light of day."

Agarwal says the game's sudden and "soul-crushing" cancelation "was a devastating moment," one that he only found out about 24 hours before the news became public.

What's more is that it sounds like The Last of Us Online (or whatever its name would've been) was farther along than previously thought. Naughty Dog mentioned that The Last of Us Online began pre-production shortly before The Last of Us Part 2's launch in its cancelation announcement, meaning it would've been in development for roughly four years. Agarwal now shares that the number is closer to a whopping seven years, and it was apparently around 80% finished by the time Sony took it out back.

One might wonder why Naughty Dog thought spinning off The Last of Us, a famously single-player series, into a multiplayer direction was a good idea. To that, I'd point everyone to the first The Last of Us' Factions mode, which was a surprisingly great and engrossing detour made back when big-budget games often came out with both solo and multiplayer parts.

I would've loved to see what a fleshed out version of Factions could've been, but unfortunately in today's industry, where AAA live service games require massive amounts of money and manpower, it's unlikely that Naughty Dog would've been able to upkeep a big online experience while making the luxe story-driven games it's known for at the same time.

Canceled The Last of Us Online game was "great," but former PlayStation exec says Naughty Dog had to scrap it after Bungie told them how much work it would be.

Fresh from a round of The Last of Us Part 3 hopes being raised by some vagueposting by Neil Druckmann, comments by a former lead at Naughty Dog suggest that something might be in the works. It's all kept pretty hush-hush, but it's definitely enough to keep the dream alive.

In an appearance on the Lance E Lee Podcast from Tokyo, Vinit Agarwal, previously the game director on The Last of Us Online, speaks about his experience being in such a role before leaving Naughty Dog. Having worked on the newfangled Factions for seven years before the standalone multiplayer shooter was canceled, he reveals he moved to another potential release and remained in the company for another year.

"They made me a game director on one of their future games," he says. "I stayed with that for a year, and so after a year I decided, 'No, I'm going to take the plunge, I'm going to take the risk.'"

He's nodding to his new venture, a mysterious studio based in Japan working on a game inspired by '90s anime. But of course, the part that's most eyebrow-raising is the mention of a "future game" that isn't Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, which is led by Druckmann, and Agarwal continually refers to it as "Neil's game."

When The Last of Us Online was shut down, Naughty Dog stated there was "more than one" large-scale single-player release in the making, and Druckmann mentioned some sort of game in the pipeline alongside Intergalactic in May 2025. Is this another The Last of Us?

Well, it'd sure make for an easy pivot to move someone who was directing one The Last of Us game to another when the first gets cut. They already know the universe and have creative ideas for it. Naughty Dog loves trilogies, and doing Part 3 of Ellie's battles against the Cordyceps-ridden infected rounds out the main narrative nicely. Not to mention it'd be huge to have that and Intergalactic come out on the trot.

Since The Last of Us Online was canned in 2023, this other thing has now been getting tinkered with for three years, at least. Hm. Alas, this is all speculation. The company's clearly got a few irons in the fire, and whatever emerges, you can be certain it'll be massive.

The Last of Us director used Ellie and Joel's bond as a reference for his new game, but the biggest inspiration was Ico, the first that made him cry.

Neil Druckmann may have just teased the existence of The Last of Us Part 3, contributing to our collective hopium. A social media post reminiscing about the series suggests there's still more to come in Joel and Ellie's misadventures against the Cordyceps, though to what degree is kept distinctly vague.

On Instagram, Druckmann, who co-created the franchise, shared a recently unearthed sketch for an old pitch involving a male protagonist protecting a young girl on some sort of journey across a United States that's fallen apart. Sounds familiar.

"Cleaning out the garage today and stumbled on my original sketches from 2003 for a game pitch about a man, his surrogate daughter, and a trek across a broken America," he says in the caption. "Been a wild journey. Grateful for every part of it, especially the few stops that remain on the road ahead."

Oh, "the few stops that remain on the road ahead," you say? That sure sounds like another sequel is in the works. Possibly more spin-offs too. It's now been six years since the release of The Last of Us Part 2, and in that time, Druckmann's been cagey about committing to another installment.

Back in May 2025, he told people not to bet on there being any more of the zombie horror saga, as Naughty Dog continued work in earnest on its next venture, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. But now, he seems to have changed his tune slightly. Although Part 2's ending is relatively neat, a third mainline game always seemed possible, because the studio favors the neatness of trilogies – Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter, and Uncharted all got at least one – and there'll be increased demand for more narrative runway due to the TV show.

The comments are full of people interpreting this as license to get excited. "The last line is precisely why I'm never losing hope for a Part 3," says one. "That last line pretty much confirms Part 3," speculates another.

That said, we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves, because this is still far from any kind of real announcement. It's fun to see what the early concepts of The Last of Us looked like, as the protagonist in the first picture is sporting a vest and jeans, with a fire torch in one hand and his more youthful companion in the other. In the second, he's older with a shirt and tie, and the girl is a teen.

There's less realism, as the studio was still in the throes of the Jak games, before pivoting towards being more cinematic for Uncharted. It truly has been a long, winding path for all involved. Whatever's coming, we can be sure it'll tear our hearts open, as is how The Last of Us tends to work.

Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet's been away from the spotlight, but Neil Druckmann's teasing the return of a The Last of Us actor in the sci-fi game.

The Last of Us has cast two important characters for season 3.

Deadline reports that Michelle Mao will play Yara and Kyriana Kratter will play Lev. The pair are Seraphites, members of the religious cult in Seattle that Ellie and Dina get a glimpse of in season 2. Lev is Yara's younger brother, and the character is trans in the game. The publication reports that this will be the case in the show, too, although Kratter is not trans.

15-year-old Kratter is best known for starring as KB in the 2024 Star Wars show Skeleton Crew, while Mao played Rosamund, the antagonist in the latest season of Bridgerton.

Lev and Yara are both important to Abby's story after the pair cross paths with her in Seattle, with Lev in particular being something of a moral compass for her. In a narrative switch-up, Abby will be the focus of The Last of Us season 3, and (if it follows the course of the game) we'll see the events of the second season from her point of view. That means diving deeper into what's going on in Seattle with the WLF and the Seraphites.

Other recent additions to the show's cast include Patrick Wilson as Abby's father Jerry, Jason Ritter as WLF soldier Hanley, and Clea DuVall as another member of the Seraphites. They join an existing cast list that includes Kaitlyn Dever as Abby and Bella Ramsey as Ellie.

In Abby's story, Jeffrey Wright returns as Isaac, with Tati Gabrielle as Nora, Spencer Lord as Owen, Ariela Barer as Mel, and Jorge Lendeborg Jr. as Manny (who takes over from Danny Ramirez). In Ellie's corner, there's Isabela Merced as Dina and Gabriel Luna as Tommy.

Filming is currently underway on season 3.

The Last of Us season 3 is expected to premiere on HBO in 2027. For more on what to watch, check out our guide to the other best new TV shows on the way.

We haven't seen much from Naughty Dog's new space romp Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet outside of its reveal trailer from well over a year ago, but game director Neil Druckmann has just teased that a prominent The Last of Us actor is set to return.

On his personal Instagram account, Druckmann yesterday uploaded a picture of actor Merle Dandridge wearing a motion capture suit while posing in what looks like a mocap studio. The caption is a little less vague, calling Dandridge a "n̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶a̶l̶ intergalactic treasure." Calling it a tease might be cutting it short.

Merle Dandridge has a pretty long, extensive history with Naughty Dog. She first appeared as Marlene in the first The Last of Us, returned briefly in The Last of Us Part 2, and then reprised her role for HBO's live-action adaptation of the zombie games. She was also in Naughty Dog's Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, though her most iconic role in my books was voicing Alyx Vance in the original Half-Life games.

Details on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet have been pretty hush hush, casting teases aside. We know the third-person action game follows a spacefaring bounty hunter who gets stranded on an isolated planet. Druckmann has said in the past that it's also a game "about religion and faith," though he said it was apparently "still evolving and changing" this time last year.

On a more dour note, developers at Naughty Dog were reportedly doing mandatory overtime to finish an internal demo of the game late last year. That's despite the PlayStation studio promising that "it's something we're not going to do anymore" in response to The Last of Us Part 2's unhealthy crunch culture.

The Last of Us lead Troy Baker says he's still butting heads with Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann on new project Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, despite not being the lead: "It's our vibe"

Jason Ritter and Patrick Wilson have joined the cast of The Last of Us season 3.

According to Variety, Ritter will play a WLF agent, while Wilson will play none other than Jerry Anderson... who was the only person left on earth who could've made a cure for the virus before Joel made an uh-oh oopsie (in the name of love, mind you).

The hit series, based on the massively popular video games, was renewed for a third season ahead of the season 2 premiere in 2025. The first season follows The Last of Us Part 1, with season 2 and 3 adapting The Last of Us Part 2 – the latter of which shifts the storyline away from Joel (Pedro Pascal) to focus on a now-adult Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and new antagonist Abby (Kaitlyn Dever).

Because the second game is so dense, showrunner Craig Mazin, who is now showrunning alone following creator Neil Druckmann's shock departure, initially posed that they might need a second, third, and fourth season to wrap up the entire story. New reports, however, say that the third season might very well be the last...

Ritter is perhaps best known for starring in Matlock alongside Kathy Bates (or you may have seen him spreading joy on the otherwise bleak internet by posting videos that showcase his dance and, uh, fighting moves), though he'll be playing the husband of a sheriff in DC's upcoming Lanterns series. Wilson is no doubt best known for his tenure as Ed Warren throughout The Conjuring franchise.

The Last of Us season 3 is set to premiere sometime in 2027. For more, check out our list of the best HBO Max shows to stream right now, or, check out our list of the best new TV shows coming your way in 2026 and beyond.

Jorge Lendeborg Jr. and Clea DuVall have joined the cast of The Last of Us season 3.

According to Deadline, Jorge Lendeborg Jr. will replace Danny Ramirez as WLF member Manny in the show's third season, with Clea DuVall set to play a Seraphite.

The hit series, based on the massively popular video games, was renewed for a third season ahead of the season 2 premiere last year. The first season follows The Last of Us Part 1, with season 2 and 3 adapting The Last of Us Part 2 – the latter of which shifts the storyline away from Joel (Pedro Pascal) and focuses more on Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and new antagonist Abby (Kaitlyn Dever).

Ramirez departed the show last year after just one season due to scheduling conflicts, and we get why. The actor and soon-to-be filmmaker just finished filming Avengers: Doomsday, new Jean-Michel Basquiat biopic, Samo Lives, is getting ready to shoot his directorial debut Baton, and is confirmed to be starring alongside Pascal once again in the new Todd Haynes romance De Noche.

The actor isn't the only one who made an exit, as showrunner and video game creator Neil Druckmann announced his shock departure last year. Craig Mazin will now serve as showrunner, with the season set to focus on Abby's perspective (as per the second half of The Last of Us Part 2).

Lendeborg Jr. is best known for his role as popular kid Jason Inello in the Tom Holland-led Spider-Man film series, and just wrapped production on the upcoming B-movie horror, Halloween Store. DuVall is a lauded pop culture icon who starred in the queer coming-of-age comedy, But I'm a Cheerleader, as well as cult classic sci-fi horror The Faculty.

The Last of Us season 3 is set to premiere sometime in 2027. For more, check out our list of the best HBO Max shows to stream right now, or, check out our list of the best new TV shows coming your way in 2026 and beyond.

The Last of Us and Uncharted 4 game director Bruce Straley is back with a game that basically sells itself from the word go: Coven of the Chicken Foot has you play as a witchy grandma with chicken feet as she builds a bond with a hulking fantasy creature. And Straley's taking some inspiration from lots of places, from his own post-apocalyptic work and a Studio Ghibli classic to Fumito Ueda.

Speaking to GamesRadar+ about his upcoming "semi-open-world" explorative puzzle game, Straley explains that while building the central relationship between our grandma Gertie and our odd, unnamed companion, the team looked at "the bond between the Red Elk Yakuul and Ahitaka from Princess Mononoke, and of course Ellie and Joel from The Last of Us" as reference.

The biggest reference point was the hugely influential Japanese game maker Fumito Ueda, however, who directed ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, The Last Guardian, and an upcoming project featuring massive robots - all games that, to varying degrees, are about connecting with a character outside of your control.

"Ueda's games have definitely had an influence on our game," Straley explains. "ICO was the first game to ever make me cry. Before that, games were just games to me. But after playing ICO, my entire philosophy of what kind of experiences the medium had the potential to deliver completely changed. Before hiring Wouter Gort as Art Director, Wouter and I bonded over the idea of capturing some of the relationship building between ICO's horned boy and Yorda, as well as Agro the horse and the adventurer from Shadow of the Colossus."

While Straley doesn't outright mention it, Coven of the Chicken Foot most reminds me of The Last Guardian, which is also about a sometimes helpless protagonist's push-and-pull relationship with a fantasy beast that's several times stronger and bigger than him. Coven of the Chicken Foot's Steam description even makes reference to "innovative technology" that lets our companion learn based on our behaviour while also pushing back based on its own motivations, which sounds a lot like Trico's role in The Last Guardian.

"Ueda has a way of creating atmosphere and has set the bar for creating bonds between the player and the characters in his games that we've been inspired by," Straley continued. Ueda's design by subtraction has left its mark on countless games, including The Last of Us, so it's no surprise to see it carried over here.

Uncharted and Last of Us director says Zelda: Wind Waker was the main inspiration for his new game's art style, because the devs wanted the graphics to "last the test of time"

One of the great disappointments of The Last of Us Part 2 was the lack of multiplayer. Factions injected more life into the first, and offered an alternative way to play if hacking through Cordyceps was stressing you out. Almost six full years after release, modders are righting Naughty Dog’s wrong for the follow-up, and fans are in awe.

The modder Speclizer revealed they were toying with the idea of bringing unofficially multiplayer to The Last of Us 2 just last week. A dab hand at constructing such things, having made several other modifications for Joel and Ellie’s zombie-infested misadventures and the God of War games, they emerged with a working model only days later.

Rough around the edges and janky as heck, a clip shows two Ellies running around a portion of the Seattle map. It's perfunctory, but the outline of a functional mode is there. Although this is co-op, the intent is for PvP at some point, and the fact it stems largely from one person is astonishing.

"Obviously it's not much right now. It’s still in the testing phase. But I appreciate the effort. Some of us were looking forward to that multiplayer Last Of Us spin-off game," posts YouTuber and streamer The Black Hokage following a retweet of the clip. "Modders out here doing what Sony was too scared to try," says another response.

There was intention for Factions to expand. Stemming from the first game, Naughty Dog put four years into a The Last of Us spin-off based around multiplayer before cancelling the project. Faced with having to maintain a resource-intensive live-service game, the studio chose to focus instead on singe-player experiences, leading to Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, the company's next game, instead.

There's no indication of when any of us will get to play the mod for ourselves, but if this pace holds, it could be quite soon. Watch this space.

After Sony rejected a Horizon Zero Dawn collab, Tencent tried to pitch a new The Last of Us game instead: "I was confused"

A modder for games like The Last of Us and God of War has been working on a potential multiplayer mod for The Last of Us Part 2, two years after Naughty Dog canceled its official The Last of Us online multiplayer spin-off game. The project was shut down four years into development, despite the team's praise. One developer called it "the highlight of my career."

The online entry in The Last of Us series was canceled in part so that Naughty Dog could focus its efforts on its next major single-player experience, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet. After the cancellation was announced, the PC modding community began looking into the possibility of adding multiplayer into the already available The Last of Us games.

No one has been able to create online multiplayer for The Last of Us yet, but one modder is working on it with some success. Modder Speclizer recently posted a tweet showing a short video of multiplayer working in The Last of Us Part 2, though it only works locally for the moment.

They haven't promised that the mod will be completed any time soon, if at all, but the video shows some progress on a multiplayer mod with two Ellies being controlled independently. The modder adds that they "don't know if this will turn out to be anything," but they've been able to spawn two separate players in the same game.

As they say, this is early days, but it appears that they are currently exploring whether this could be turned into a full online multiplayer mod for PC. The second Ellie's movement doesn't look the smoothest, but it's a start. Certainly, one to keep an eye on.

Canceled The Last of Us Online game was "great," but former PlayStation exec says Naughty Dog had to scrap it after Bungie told them how much work it would be.

The Last of Us game director and co-creator Bruce Straley has doubled down hard on his original generative AI stance, pointing out that the tech's ethical questions extend far and wide. Needless to say, he'll be avoiding the tech for as long as he can while making his next game: the delightfully named Coven of the Chicken Foot.

While speaking about the recent drama surrounding Larian's use of AI in Divinity's early development during a chat with Kinda Funny Games, Straley evokes "that Jurassic Park thing." You know the one. As the saying goes, your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.

"We don't need AI," the game developer continues. "I really do think it's the demise of the human species. Our brain - we need a frontal lobe. Hundreds of thousands of years of this, like, a supercomputer that's built [into our brains], and they're making football fields and draining water supplies to try to replicate something that a human can already do. It just doesn't make sense to me." As executives continue to focus on generative AI's convenience and arguably improving quality, it's refreshing to hear a developer bring attention back to why the tech is harmful in the first place.

Straley is also right to point out that the process of making a game, or any piece of art, informs the finished piece. "Seeing people get challenged and overcome those challenges, that's to me what it is to be on a team and be in a community as we get to be inspired by each other," he adds. "AI doesn't inspire me. I don't want to watch a movie that I know somebody's prompted. How do they actually communicate what their fantasies are, what their childhood trauma is, their art? I don't think prompting AI gets to the heart of what the human experience is."

Over on social media, Straley does acknowledge that "this is all bigger than me" and generative AI is probably "not going away" thanks to a lack of regulation and billions of dollars in investments. "But I've chosen my path. I don't use gen AI or any LLMs in my work. There may be a point in time that I can't say that anymore, but for today, that's my choice." In regard to his new studio, Wildflower Entertainment, Straley doesn't enforce a company-wide mandate, but he's "99.9% sure no one is using it on the team."

Former The Last of Us director is happy to be making his own weird game and "not something that you need to do a remaster of in the next 4 years because the tech has already outgrown it"

Years after seemingly hanging up the cape and stepping away from games, Bruce Straley – best known for his work directing several Uncharted games, as well as The Last of Us – is back with a funky little game called Coven of the Chicken Foot. It focuses on reactive companion characters, and Straley's own words, "It's not something that you need to do a remaster of in the next four years because the tech has already outgrown it."

Straley shared that sentiment with Polygon in an interview that spans his legacy at Naughty Dog, the reasons for his departure, and the work he's been up to ever since. This comment seems particularly pointed considering Naughty Dog has spent the years since Straley left largely remastering or remaking much of its own work.

Moreover, the industry has – at large, it should be noted – adapted a more brazen attitude about revisiting and re-releasing its older work lately. The trend of remastering games, which began in earnest in the late aughts, seems to have seized the industry to the point where we're often talking about remasters and remakes. Given the economic hardships that the games industry has been weathering the last several years, it's also hardly surprising to see it leverage constantly advancing technology to revitalize storied and treasured IPs and series.

For his part, Straley confessed that he wanted very little to do with that. He left Naughty Dog because he wanted to avoid falling into repetition after directing multiple installments in similar franchises and honing what would eventually become the studio's signature style of action-adventure titles.

"I got paid very well there, I got some appreciation there, but it felt like it was time to break out and try it on my own. It felt like it was time to evolve my concepts and build a new team," Straley shared.

The result of those experiments? Straley's new remote studio, Wildflower Interactive – which comes in at a whopping 16 members, 12 of whom are devs – and Coven of the Chicken Foot, which looks positively charming at first blush. It centers on an older witch named Gertie (an unlikely platforming protag) who is aided by a curious sheep-like creature that observes and reacts to the player's behaviors and actions.

The emphasis for Straley and his team this time around certainly doesn't seem to be in courting (or redefining) the prestige work that he once accomplished at his older studio. In fact, he seems entirely content with shedding himself of that legacy and getting out from under its shadow, a kind of thinking that he dubs, "a fear-based mindset" that stifles creativity.

The Last of Us director left Naughty Dog after the studio settled into a "paradigm" of how to make a specific type of game: "I just don't have it in me. I would make a lot more money if I did!"

The Last of Us director Bruce Straley has given his most personable and in-depth explanation of why he left Naughty Dog back in 2016, citing the "repetition" of the studio's established game design as one of the key reasons for his departure.

"I had been there 18 years. That's a long time for anybody to be anywhere," Straley tells Polygon. "I think I played a very integral role in building that brand up and those titles, and I had a really amazing experience with those teams. But I felt like I was answering the same questions over and over again.

"We were kind of in this paradigm of this style of game — that I was part of creating! But it felt like I've been in this position before. My brain isn't good with that type of repetition. I need new problems to solve, I need new creative outlets. I'm not saying there wouldn't be opportunities there, but couple that feeling with the idea that I was working really, really hard at something that wasn't mine."

Straley's first job at Naughty Dog was artist on Crash Team Racing, and he would go on to become co-art director on the first Uncharted game from 2007, and then game director on Uncharted 2, The Last of Us, The Last of Us: Left Behind, and finally, 2016's Uncharted 4 before his departure the following year. Straley founded his own studio, the independent Wildflower Interactive, in 2021, and last night at The Game Awards 2025, its debut game, single-player adventure Coven of the Chicken Foot, was revealed.

Although we haven't seen enough of Naughty Dog's next game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, to say if and how its game design has evolved since The Last of Us 2, it sounds like Straley simply wanted something different after directing three giga-budget, cinematic, narrative-driven adventure games. And Straley was right on the money: Naughty Dog ended up banging this same drum – literally, in the case of The Last of Us 2 re-releases – for years to come.

"For me, it's this evolution of: How can I just take something from a different angle and create a fresh perspective on a genre that's been well-trodden?" he said. "And if I'm not doing that… I just don't have it in me. I would make a lot more money if I did!"

Notably, Coven of the Chicken Foot is described as an "emotionally-rich, stylized, single-player adventure," which definitely doesn't sound antithetical to the design philosophy that's largely defined Naughty Dog games for almost two decades, but at the very least, stylistically it's very distinct, with a vibrant, colorful, cel-shaded, almost Ghibli-esque vibe that's nothing like the near-photorealistic style of modern Naughty Dog games.

In terms of gameplay, Wildflower says it's "a charming yet dark, character puzzle-platformer set in a stylized world that 'winks' at the tropes of a traditional fantasy-adventure game," which indeed lines up with what Straley said about wanting to avoid repetition.

Meanwhile, Ex PlayStation lead was "a little concerned" when Naughty Dog first ditched Uncharted for The Last of Us: "We may be going too niche."

Considering I've been to jollier funerals, it's a little odd to call The Last of Us Part 2 a victory lap. But for PlayStation 4, that's exactly what it was. The PS4 had smashed it, with constant great first-party games like Spider-Man, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Bloodborne, along with excellent third party support. The Last of Us Part 2 was clearly intended as one last hurrah before the PS5 arrived later that same year.

So why is its remaster one of the defining games of PS5? Well, that PS4 victory lap never really ended. We've had slightly conservative sequels to Horizon, Spider-Man, God of War, and Ghost of Tsushima. Some good, some great, but none of them as brave a roll of the dice as The Last of Us 2.

Head to the next paragraph if you don't want spoilers – seriously, off you go – but this game kills its co-lead in the opening hours. It's easy to forget just how ridiculously audacious that move was. Imagine if Donkey Kong Bananza explained you had to play as DK because Diddy Kong had succumbed to bronchitis. I hope whoever opens the feedback mail at Naughty Dog got a steep raise that month.

After that merry opening, the stage is set for a violent stealth adventure that makes the first game look about as grisly as an episode of Bluey. A grimdark indictment of human nature where horses get shot in the head, supporting characters get picked off more ruthlessly than in a Game of Thrones finale, and someone can't even enjoy a spot of Hotline Miami on PS Vita without getting their throat slit. It's a lot.

Naughty Dog… You OK, hun?

At least The Last of Us Part 2 doesn't shy away from the horrors of what you're doing. I've racked up psychotic kill counts in hundreds of games, but this is one of the few where every character has a name. Plenty mocked the feature where surviving NPCs will sometimes yell one of your victims' names out when you kill them. I think it's brilliant. An upsettingly effective way of reminding you that, oh yeah, that was a person you just slaughtered. Naughty Dog are still one of the few AAA studios interested in humanizing the 'enemy' at all.

But the game isn't just good for giving you more reasons to hate yourself for perpetuating cycles of violence. This revenge quest simply feels great to play as a game. It's the best stealth adventure since Metal Gear Solid 5. Except all your lovely toys from Metal Gear haven't bothered showing up, forcing you to think on your feet in a game where simply trying to wait the enemy out is suicide. They're far too smart for such tired stealth tricks. Instead of sticking to rigid patrol routes like clockwork automatrons, the people you're up against actually communicate with each other, make smart decisions, flank you, and – oh boy – occasionally drop to their knees and beg for mercy. Sorry, bud. Not in this game.

Slowly creeping up on someone who could suddenly turn around at any moment never stops getting the pulse racing, especially with several of their friends in the wings ready to shout "Kevin!" if they witness you shanking poor Kev. It never lets you get comfortable, constantly escalating and adding nasty new complications, or a swarm of clickers just for kicks.

I'll never forget the moment where my opponents stopped loudly shouting their plans and started communicating through whistling. A sinister secret code that you can't crack, so you don't know if that whistle means 'no sign of her, let's all go home and play Uncharted instead' or 'there she is – kill, kill, kill!'

The Last of Us Part 2 throws massive set pieces at you relentlessly, moments that would be the climax to other games. A horseback chase through what's essentially a war zone might be Naughty Dog's greatest set piece ever. But my favorite thing about the game is actually something that's missing.

There's none of the tiresome yellow paint plastered everywhere to hold your hand and tell you exactly where to go. Instead the artists subtly guide you, encouraging exploration and paying attention, making for much more organic-feeling traversal. And because you have to constantly engage with it properly to progress, it sucks you in brilliantly. They've somehow made a game that's more downbeat than a kitten morgue near-impossible to put down.

Bloody, beautiful

This remaster is undoubtedly the way to play The Last of Us Part 2. A mere PS4 upscale? Please, most PS5 games wish they looked half as good as this. But it's the haptic feedback where the update truly sings. No one gets more out of Sony's machines than Naughty Dog, who gleefully ask the Astro Bot devs to hold their beer so they can get every bell and whistle out of the DualSense.

The resistance in the left trigger when you aim a gun just feels right. As does the way the rumbling adjusts whether on horseback, fleeing on foot, or walking into another one of those bloody explosive traps. And the bit where you have to shake the controller to get your torch working again is… OK, that bit's still stupid. But otherwise, this is easily one of the best games for showing off what PS5's all-timer of a pad can truly do.

There's a generous amount of extra features, too. Three 'lost levels' that were cut from the campaign give a fascinating look at the still far too murky world of game development. Hang on, they cut a party scene where Ellie could get her face painted? Christ, Naughty Dog, can't you cut her even the tiniest of breaks?

There's also a new mode, No Return, which asks the question 'what if our very serious examination of the futility of violence… was a fun roguelike!'. Decent if you just want to enjoy the excellent stealth systems, even if it does successfully kill off all the nuances of the main story. Yes, yes, violence is horrible, but if you use a molotov in this level to kill someone, we'll give you a bonus reward! I doubt we'll see that idea adapted in the TV show, but if you're reading this, Craig Mazin, I'd love to be proven wrong.

The Last of Us Part 2 is far from perfect. While it's great to see a queer relationship in such a big budget mainstream game, I still think Dina and Ellie's relationship has no spark whatsoever. They have about as much romantic chemistry as Joel does with a certain golf club. It's far too long and indulgent in places, and the overwhelmingly dour tone sometimes had me taking breaks to play something more upbeat, like Spec Ops: The Line.

But this is still the best stealth game on PS5 and almost nobody in the AAA space is taking swings as bold as what you'll find here. If this is what Naughty Dog can achieve with a mere remaster, then their upcoming first bespoke PS5 game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, might beam us to actual space.

Check out our best PS5 games ranking for what to play next!

Former PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida has revealed he was surprised when Naughty Dog wanted to move away from the Uncharted series for The Last of Us.

Naughty Dog's PS1 and PS2 output had the studio making three main series games, then a racing game. Crash Bandicoot did this (with one of the best racing games ever made, at that), then Jak and Daxter followed, but on the PS3, after three Uncharted games, Naughty Dog went in a vastly different direction.

Instead of making the safe choice and continuing its successful series (or making the really good choice to create Unkarted), Naughty Dog went on to create its fourth PS3 game an apocalyptic survival horror game: The Last of Us.

Speaking to GameSpot, former PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida said, "It was a bit surprising that Naughty Dog wanted to move on from Uncharted, but also that they were going to create something really mature."

While Uncharted had mature themes and featured protagonist Nathan Drake mowing down hundreds of men at any given moment, Yoshida described it as "a summer blockbuster movie for a very broad audience."

Even though The Last of Us shares the vast amount of killing you'd find in Uncharted, it pairs it with a depressing and oppressive atmosphere where the brutality of that violence is amped up, leading to a far more mature story. Yoshida explained that at the time he "was a little concerned that we may be going too niche by going so mature."

Yoshida said, "In the end, their craft produced such an amazing game that they established an IP even bigger than Uncharted" with it spawning two hugely successful award-winning games and a critically acclaimed TV series based on it. While Yoshida is no longer at PlayStation and is not involved in the development, he added that he is "so excited that they are working on a new IP again with Intergalactic."

Final Fantasy 7 Remake lead looked to "story-driven" PlayStation hits like God of War and The Last of Us to help shape the JRPG remake's first entry.

Nobody outside Naughty Dog has made another The Last of Us game, but at least one company has reportedly pitched Sony to do so. According to court documents in Sony's lawsuit against the conglomerate, Tencent attempted and failed to acquire the license for a project, after another pitch related to Horizon was also rejected.

Back in July, Sony filed a lawsuit against Tencent over Light of Motiram, alleging that the game is a "slavish clone" that infringes on the Horizon IP. Tencent is pushing to have the case dismissed, leading to a fresh opposition filing from Sony, containing more information on their fraught relationship.

The latest insight, from The Game Post, includes comments by Olivier Courtemanche, the head of mobile at PlayStation Studios, who provides a timeline of previous meetings between the two corporations. According to him, Tencent attempted to obtain sign-off on a Horizon game, known as Project Z, in early 2024, when speaking to Sony representatives at that year's DICE Summit and GDC.

Tencent and Aurora Studios would've handled the prospective work, but the notion was turned down on April 8, 2024. In May, Tencent attempted to re-negotiate. "The email stated that 'For [Aurora Studios], Horizon was an IP that they were confident in adapting not only due to their deep passion for the game, but also given some of the parallels and points of connection to skillsets they have perfected while working on Project Z,'" Courtemanche states.

There was a pivot, then, towards something set in the realms of The Last of Us, as Courtemanche flew out to Shenzhen, China, to hear Tencent and Aurora’s ideas for that. He alleges the pitch went from a game adjacent to Joel and Ellie and the Cordyceps right back to Aloy and the mechanical dinosaurs.

"I recall the slide featured a female character with costume design resembling Horizon's mix of tribal clothing and metal armor, and a robot/animal hybrid resembling a Horizon robotic animal," Courtemanche’s comments read. "Now that I have reviewed the promotional materials released for Light of Motiram, I believe that these images contained assets from the Light of Motiram game. I was confused by the slide given that we had rejected a potential Horizon collaboration and thought we were there to discuss The Last of Us, among other opportunities."

It appears communications then collapsed entirely, leading to the present situation. That Sony humored outsourcing The Last of Us is a curious wrinkle, even if nothing's emerged from it just yet. As Naughty Dog continues work on Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, perhaps Sony's indulging in other methods of bringing more Cordyceps-infected to the world. Whatever the case, this is getting messier.

The Last of Us Part 2 is fast becoming Sony's Skyrim: Naughty Dog has come up with yet another excuse to revisit it – a "chronological experience" update that rearranges the story

Adapting one of the best video games of all time for television was always going to be a big ask. Now the pressure is truly on for The Last of Us when it comes to its third season, given that the show is losing one of its showrunners, who also happens to be the man who created this universe in the first place. After sticking it out for two seasons, The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann announced he wouldn't be handling season 3 of the show and that instead his focus was shifting back to Naughty Dog and upcoming projects.

As a result, the show's co-creator, Craig Mazin, has now taken complete control, putting both hands on the wheel from here on out. But while he might be keeping his distance from the series, which left on a cliffhanger, teeing up Abby's (Kaitlyn Dever) side of the story, Druckmann has confirmed he'll still be in a safe proximity to it and hopes to see it check one important box when it's finally completed.

"As much as I miss getting into the weeds and working on the effects shots and giving script notes and really getting into the details of it, I’m trying to just shepherd it," he explained to Variety. "My hope for season 3, and what I’d like to think I can best contribute to it, is to make sure it’s as deeply faithful as season 1 was. Because I feel like that is the gold standard for this kind of adaptation, while enjoying all these beautiful expansions that happen naturally with the rest of the team and how they’re working on season 3. So that is where my involvement will stay, is at that very, very high level."

Thankfully, the former co-showrunner and creator of The Last of Us franchise did confess how handling Joel and Ellie's story in such a different medium has given him great insight into how he deals with what's next on his to-do list, which includes the highly anticipated sci-fi adventure game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.

"I will say I did really enjoy it, and I took a lot away from it. I joked that I went to the best film school by working on the show, and I got to just really collaborate with incredible artists," explained Druckmann, with the show now having nine Emmy wins to its name. "There’s a lot that I learned, even just as far as the craft of making cinematic storytelling. There’s so much that overlaps with my work at Naughty Dog that I felt like I took quite a bit away from that. I think I could better serve this show and other adaptations like it in the future, having learned all this stuff — but my first responsibility, my first love, is video games, and it’s at Naughty Dog."

We'll have to wait and see just how things pan out as the harrowing world of infected, Clickers, and heartbreaking guitar solos continues without its maker. In the meantime, head here to get everything you need to know about The Last of Us season 3.

Neil Druckmann departed HBO Max's adaptation of The Last of Us following the end of season 2, leaving his co-showrunner Craig Mazin in charge of The Last of Us season 3. Now, in an interview with Variety, Druckman has explained the reasons for his departure and his return to focusing solely on running Naughty Dog, the developer that initially produced The Last of Us game series.

"It was right when we were about to start the writers' room for Season 3," Druckmann explains. "I looked at what's in front of me, what would the next season might look like, and with all the various Last of Us things I'm working on - not just the show - with all the various games I'm working on, the biggest one that takes up most of my time is Intergalactic: The Heretic Profit, our next big IP for Naughty Dog and PlayStation, it felt like I could better serve all of my responsibilities if I stayed at a higher level."

Intergalactic: The Heretic Profit is a third-person sci-fi adventure where players take on the role of a space-faring bounty hunter. The gameplay hasn't been fully revealed, and no release date has yet been announced. But Naughty Dog has been billing it as its next smash-hit. Naughty Dog's focus on the new franchise is what led Druckmann to reassess his role as co-showrunner on HBO Max's The Last of Us.

"It was quite challenging to be as involved as a co-showrunner on Season 1 and Season 2, while running a studio and working and directing and writing a game. I really appreciated at Naughty Dog how many people stepped up while I was gone working on Season 2," Druckmann continues. "Specifically, I spent quite a bit of effort on Episode 206 - prepping it, writing it, directing it. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to do that again. So I felt it around that period when we're wrapping up all the press and really about to get started with earnest in Season 3, that was a good time to reassess everything."

The Last of Us season 3 is expected to premiere in 2027. That said, fans have a lot to look forward to as remaining showrunner Craig Mazin has promised that The Last of Us season 3 will be longer than season 2.

The Last of Us showrunner Craig Mazin says he avoids online discourse around the show simply by staying away from the series' subreddit, which is exactly what someone in his position should be doing.

"I don't look at them, so I don't know," Mazin told The Hollywood Reporter. "Problem solved! I don't go on Reddit."

Mazin added that the only time he goes to Reddit is when he needs Oblivion: Remastered advice, which again, is precisely the way.

"I mean, I'm always playing video games; I'm playing The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered right now. Sometimes I'll go on Reddit when I'm like, 'What is the best bow for an archer build?' That's about as much Redditing as I do."

The Last of Us subreddit isn't always the most chipper place to be, but I'd imagine it's exponentially less so when you're the guy in charge of the TV show adaptation, which wrapped up a highly controversial second season in May.

Whether or not the criticisms over its various departures from the source material, or the ones about it following the source material, are valid, all that negativity has to take a toll on your mental health.

Mazin's wellbeing aside, no one should be taking advice from Reddit, especially not someone running a TV show, and especially not someone running a TV show based on video games with a narrative as beloved and meticulously crafted as The Last of Us.

I've seen a disturbing rise in video game developers seemingly structuring updates entirely around feedback from people on Reddit, who in general aren't representative of any game's broader, more casual player base. Of course, I'm not talking about performance updates based on online feedback; those are great. I just don't want Reddit deciding on a game's, or any other thing's, creative vision.

I think most of us would rather play and watch things that are structured around a strong, singular vision and whose key creatives are confident enough to see it through regardless of its reception. I mean, imagine a Last of Us season 2 without the whole baseball bat scene? Sure, it'd probably be a much less depressing show, but it wouldn't be as good either.

The Last of Us showrunner Craig Mazin says season 3 will be "longer than season 2," but will be "more on par" with season 1: "More bang for your buck"

A former The Last of Us and Star Wars Jedi artist says that ultra realism slows everything down when it comes to developing games.

We're at the point now where AAA development is in a really weird space. The likes of Naughty Dog which would release four games in a single generation back in the PS1, PS2, and PS3 days are now looking like it won't even release one non-remake or remaster in the PS5's lifespan. There are exceptions like Insomniac Games, Obsidian, and Capcom's teams which are releasing massive games regularly, but for the most part it's taking longer and longer for sequels to emerge.

A viral Twitter thread using that one annoying image of the bloke from Tangled with the swords asked for gaming opinions, with one user named TheDavidVinc responding, "Ultra realism and AAA budgets pretty much ruined gaming." They explain that "because of that we have to wait 10 years for a new game in a franchise" and that "companies can't experiment, innovate, even try new IPs because one failure means the death of a studio."

This opinion is echoed by former The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor character artist Del Walker, who says: "Ultra realism slows everything down." Walker explains that when chasing it, that level of detail, iteration time, custom shader needs and the amount of animation blends "goes through the roof." They cite: "A simple walk into run, turn and jump can start needing 50 animations vs six if you're happy for them to move like Earthworm Jim."

Walker does concede that "obviously it's hyperbole to say it's 'ruined' games, but chasing realism has definitely negatively affected many" which has definitely manifested in the industry over the last few years with titles like Forspoken and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League underperforming.

The Last of Us Joel actor Troy Baker says he was "woefully unprepared" for the role: "It taught me how to stop trying to convince people that I could act."

The Last of Us star Troy Baker has opened up about his thought process approaching the daunting task of portraying protagonist Joel Miller across two games.

Baker is one of the most prolific video game actors of all time, portraying such iconic roles as Sam Drake from Uncharted, Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and most recently, Higgs Monaghan in Death Stranding 2.

However, from the outside looking in, I can absolutely see how his performance as Joel in The Last of Us would be particularly harrowing. It's an emotionally devastating series, and his character in particular deals with some incredibly heavy trauma, both mentally and physically (sorry).

"You ever show up to something and go, 'I am so woefully unprepared for this'?" Baker said during a panel at GalaxyCon New Orleans 2025 (queued up below). "And it's not imposter syndrome, it's a fact. You are not equipped to do the thing that you're about to do. You could be like, 'let's go bungie jumping!' and then you get on the platform and you go, 'I can't do this.'

"Like, my body physically will not allow me to do this. That was The Last of Us for me."

Baker then recounted the first time he and Ellie actor Ashley Johnson were told the story of The Last of Us at Sony Pictures Studios. According to Baker, the two actors took a break from the meeting, at which point Baker asked Johnson, "'Do you realize that if this thing sucks, it's our fault?' [laughs] Because we knew that what they were gonna make was gonna be good."

Of course, both Baker and Johnson would both go on to deliver career-defining, universally acclaimed performances that helped catapult The Last of Us to its status as one of the greatest narrative-driven video games ever. But at the time, Baker felt he still hadn't proven himself, despite his already built-up catalog of credits.

"It taught me how to be a better actor. It taught me how to stop trying to convince people that I could act and just realize that Joel has no idea that he's in a game," Baker said. "And he's just in a moment in his life."

Find out which Naughty Dog game made our list of the best PS5 games to play right now.

A former Naughty Dog game director who led the sadly scrapped Last of Us Online project is now opening a new studio in Japan.

Vinit Agarwal worked at the famed PlayStation studio for more than a decade on hits like Uncharted 4, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, and The Last of Us Part 2 as a designer, before eventually directing a standalone multiplayer project that never crossed the finish line.

After leaving Naughty Dog earlier this year, the developer just revealed a "couple of life updates," like the fact that he's moving to Japan and "also forming a game studio – more on that soon!"

There's no concrete information about what this unannounced studio might release, but Agarwal says he's currently making a multiplayer game in Unreal Engine 5 via an earlier social media exchange. "I can't speak for what [Naughty Dog is] planning, but I'm going to continue making multiplayer games because that's what I’m passionate about," he wrote at the time.

Naughty Dog somewhat infamously threw its in-development multiplayer spin-off in the bin after Bungie reportedly told studio heads how much work it would require, having fed its own live service beast for years. The Last of Us Online was initially going to be bolted on to The Last of Us Part 2 – just as the original game's Factions mode was – though it eventually ballooned into its own full-fat game that would probably distract from the studio's single-player ambitions, including the upcoming Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet and a number of other mysterious games.

Here are some other new games of 2025 and beyond that haven't been canned.

Five years after its release, The Last of Us Part 2 has a significant new update that lets you play through the story chronologically, and I'm starting to think Sony is gunning for Skyrim's re-release crown.

As detailed in a new PlayStation Blog, The Last of Us Part 2: Chronological Experience is a new update that's free and available to all The Last of Us 2: Remastered players today. The update pretty much does what it says on the tin – for the first time, you can now play through the entirety of The Last of Us 2's story in chronological order instead of in non-linear patches like the original release.

I consider The Last of Us 2 to be a near-perfect video game story, and some of that has to do with the order in which it's told. That said, Naughty Dog came up with the idea to rearrange its story in this update simply because it had "wondered what it would be like to experience this story chronologically."

"Through the new Chronological mode, we believe players will gain even deeper insight into Part II's narrative," Naughty Dog says. "Players will be able to see how Ellie being gifted a guitar flows so neatly into her learning to play, for example, while the journey through Seattle will showcase the fascinating parallels between Ellie and Abby's crisscrossing journeys. You'll see just how close they come into running into each other, how their actions impact each other, and more."

You have to give it to Sony; it's managed to come up with yet another reason to play The Last of Us 2 after remastering the game in 2024, bundling in a ton of new content including the No Return roguelike mode, and releasing the Complete Edition bundle and PC port in 2025. Personally, the new story arrangement is my biggest incentive yet to revisit the beautiful but utterly harrowing story for the first time since 2020.

As Naughty Dog explains, there's also a more tangible reward for playing the new story mode: Uncharted skins. That's right, if you complete Chronological Experience, you'll unlock skins that let you dress up Joel and Tommy as Nathan Drake and Sam Drake from Uncharted (pictured above). The skins are only available in the No Return mode, but it's a crossover I've been wanting to see play out for years.

The new story mode is obviously the highlight of the update, but players can also expect "a host of additional bug fixes and performance improvements," which is a little surprising given, again, the game's been out for five years.

Find out where The Last of Us 2 ranks on our list of the best PS5 games.

If you've seen The Last of Us season 2, you're probably still sad about one moment in particular.

In episode 2, Pedro Pascal's Joel is brutally killed by Kaitlyn Dever's Abby, just as he is in the game. It's certainly a harrowing scene, but, for those of us still upset, co-creator Craig Mazin wants you to remember one key thing.

"He did a thing. Everyone lost their shit, and then I had to do that same thing, because he did the thing. I loved doing the thing, I thought it was great," Mazin said at a Variety panel of Joel's death, referring to Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann and the game's decision to kill the character off. "The big complaint that I've gotten is, 'Why did you kill Pedro Pascal?' And I keep explaining, we didn't kill him! He's a man, he's alive. He's fine. And he's in literally everything else. So I don't know what the problem is!"

Mazin isn't wrong about Pascal being a busy man. He's starring as Reed Richards in this summer's The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and he's also in Celine Song's Materialists.

Plus, you can see him in Game of Thrones (though that one might not cheer you up…) as well as other hit shows like Narcos, and, of course, you can scratch the itch of watching Pascal take care of a young charge with The Mandalorian. In fact, he's returning as the Beskar-clad papa in The Mandalorian & Grogu, which releases next year.

The Last of Us season 2 is available to stream on HBO Max now. While you wait for the show to return with The Last of Us season 3, check out our guide to all the most exciting upcoming shows of 2025 to fill out your watchlist.

The Last of Us season 2 finale depicted some key moments from the game – but one scene was very different.

In the game, Ellie finds Owen and Mel in the aquarium on her hunt for Abby, just as she does in the show. But, a more physical scuffle plays out in the game, while in the show, Ellie fires her gun once when Owen lunges for her, and the bullet kills both Owen and Mel, who is pregnant.

According to co-creator Craig Mazin, there is a reason for that change. "In the game, Ellie fights Owen (Spencer Lord), and then fights Mel, and it's only after Mel dies that her coat opens and Ellie realizes she's pregnant," Mazin told The Hollywood Reporter.

"But for this, Ellie is not really capable of killing Owen – you look at Bella [Ramsey] and you look at Spencer Lord, he's 6'4" and just incredibly imposing," he continued. "A physical struggle wasn't going to go well, and she's not there to kill them. She just wants to kill Abby. I remember saying to Neil [Druckmann, co-creator] that as fucked up as that moment was in the game, I think it can be more fucked up and not to be a tormentor."

This might raise some eyebrows in the same way as Mazin's comment about Abby being more "competent" than Ellie. "Look for the devil, the devil's gonna find you. Abby seemingly is not like Ellie, in that Abby is incredibly competent," he said of the theater confrontation that follows the aquarium scene.

The Last of Us season 3 seems set to focus on Abby's side of the story, so it might be a while before we see Ramsey's Ellie again.

For more on the show, check out our The Last of Us season 2 review, or see our guide to all the most exciting upcoming shows still to come in 2025.

The Last of Us season 2 packed in plenty of dark moments from the game across its seven-episode run, but one in particular was left out of the finale.

Warning, spoilers ahead for The Last of Us season 2 ending! Turn back now if you're not up to date!

In episode 7 of season 2, Ellie goes to an abandoned aquarium on her hunt for Abby. She ends up accidentally killing two of Abby's friends – one of whom, Mel, was pregnant, to Ellie's horror. But, as those who've played the game will know, in The Last of Us Part 2, there's one more casualty: Alice the dog.

Alice doesn't make an appearance at all in the show (so far), but in the game, Ellie kills the good pup, who you actually play alongside for a while as Abby.

"You get one dog murdering episode a lifetime," co-showrunner Craig Mazin said in a press conference attended by GamesRadar+. Mazin also created the show Chernobyl, which saw multiple dogs culled in the aftermath of the nuclear tragedy. "There are two cardinal rules in Hollywood. One, don't spend your own money. Two, don't kill the dog."

But, there's a more serious reason, too. "We had a situation where a number of horrible things were happening. Plus, because it's live action, the nature of violence becomes much more graphic. It's more graphic. Because it's not like there's an animation between you and it; it's people. And it's very disturbing."

Plus, with how dark the rest of the episode was, it just ended up being overkill.

"Sometimes adding something that was cut from the game requires you to remove something that was in the game," added Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann. "So here, that sequence where Ellie drifts to the Seraphite island and almost gets lynched herself was something we used to have in the game and cut it for just production… purposes. And then now we had three horrible things in a row. We had that sequence, Alice, and then Mel. And in our conversation, we're like, this is probably one one too many."

For more on the show, check out our The Last of Us season 2 review, or see our guide to all the most exciting upcoming shows still to come in 2025.

As The Last Of Us season 2 comes to a close, this chapter of the dystopian drama will be marked by one decisive moment at the end of episode 2. Just as it was in the original game, the brutal murder of Joel (Pedro Pascal) at the hands of the vengeful Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) was a shocking turning point, even for those who knew what was coming. It was speculated that the show may suffer a ratings decline following the loss of its most beloved characters, with one historical precedent looming in the memories of many.

In 2016, The Walking Dead season seven opened with the episode The Day Will Come When You Won't Be, which featured the villain Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) violently bludgeoning show favourites Glenn (Stephen Yeun) and Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) to death. The graphic and senseless nature of the killings saw millions tune out over the coming seasons. While it’s too early to gauge the long-term impact, ratings for The Last Of Us have remained fairly solid, up five million across all platforms according to Variety, though the season finale saw a steep decline. So, how did HBO’s hit avoid the same fate as its fellow zombie drama?

One of the answers is offering perspective, however painful that may be to fans grieving Joel’s demise. Much of the second season deals with the fallout from the first season’s finale bloodbath, where Joel kills an entire hospital full of Fireflies who intended to perform an operation on Ellie (Bella Ramsey) that would create a cure for the zombie outbreak, but kill her. At the end of season one, the only viewpoint we had was Joel’s, who did what he had to do to save his “Babygirl”. However, after a brief reminder of his lie to Ellie, season 2 opens with the victims of his actions.

“None of this is fucking fair” exclaims Abby, standing at the grave of her father, one of many killed by Joel. The remaining Fireflies stand by, asking why he would do such a thing, but Abby is twisted by anger, grief, and survivor’s guilt. From another perspective, she may have been the hero of this story, instead of the shocking executioner she becomes at the end of episode 2. Enraged by Joel’s demand to “get this over with”, she growls: “You stupid old man, you don’t get to rush this.”

Abby Road

It doesn’t make what happens next any easier, particularly as we’ve spent 11 episodes growing attached to Joel and Ellie’s father-daughter bond. It does, however, provide some justification. We aren’t metaphorically standing at Joel’s grave asking why, and Abby isn’t the swaggering torturer that Negan was. There is a struggle in her revenge, offering some sympathy from the beginning of episode 2, in a dream sequence where she tells herself not to walk through a door that will reveal her father’s corpse. Negan didn’t get anything close to a sympathetic portrayal until season 9 of The Walking Dead when many had given up on the show.

The impact of what Joel did echoes across Ellie’s subsequent quest for revenge. In episode 5, cornered and facing infection, Abby’s accomplice Nora reads off Joel’s charges: “Don’t you know what he did?” she asks, “he killed everyone in that hospital, including the only fucking person alive that could make a cure from you. That was Abby’s father. And Joel shot him in the head. That’s what he did.” It’s a grim assessment, underlining how he is seen by those who survived the massacre.

So, is this series aiming for longevity by flipping the roles, turning loveable Pedro Pascal into the villain of the piece? Not really, as while Abby’s justification for killing him is aired, so too is his reasoning for saving Ellie. Her calm response of “I know” to Nora’s claims, followed by Ellie meeting out the same kind of brutality as Abby, shows a kind of messy morality where “good” depends on your point of view.

This is underlined by Joel’s justification when confessing what he did for Ellie in a flashback. Accepting that he’ll “pay the price” but that he’d do it all over again “because I love you, in a way you can’t understand. Maybe you never will. But if that day should come, if you should have one of your own, well then, I hope you do a little better than me.” As Ellie looks to become a parent with Dina (Isabela Merced), she could understand his perspective sooner than she expected.

Season 2 ends from Abby’s point of view, something we will be seeing a lot of in season 3 if the next season sticks to the structure of the game. She may always be a villain to those who loved Joel, but the senselessness of his exit is taken away by telling a story where there are no heroes or villains, just people fighting for what they love. With that in mind, it will be easier to follow Abby into future episodes, instead of abandoning her in the way many did with Negan.

Check out our The Last of Us season 2 review for even more on the show. You can also. keep up to date with our everything we know about The Last of Us season 3.

The Last of Us season 3 is well underway, and it might be the final instalment of the beloved video game adaptation. Set to pick up in the aftermath of The Last of Us season 2 ending, the third outing will be all about Abby Anderson (played by Kaitlyn Dever). That's not to say we won't be seeing more of Bella Ramsey's Ellie after that dramatic ending... but those of us who have played through The Last of Us Part 2 know all about that dual storyline.

As the HBO show approaches this next part of the story, we're expecting new characters and surprises along the way. Some of the recent news included the introduction of two new fan-favorite game roles being cast. Production has been put on pause, however, for a peculiar reason...

Below, we break down all of this, as well as details on when season 3 may be released, who will be returning, and how it compares to The Last of Us Part 2 game. Read on for our complete guide to The Last of Us season 3. But be warned, we'll be getting into some The Last of Us Part 2 spoilers as well if you're not up to date with the events of the game.

The Last of Us season 3 release date speculation

The release date for The Last of Us season 3 has not been announced yet, but we can expect a 2027 release, according to HBO boss Casey Bloys.

"The series is definitely planned for 2027," he said in July 2025. "Craig [Mazin] is still working it out whether it will be two more seasons or one more long season. It hasn't been decided yet, and I'm following Craig's lead on that."

Filming began in March/April 2026 as well, which matches up with this planned release date. It's currently taking place in Vancouver and went into a small hiatus on June 1 due to pre-World Cup soccer matches taking place around Vancouver (according to Yahoo News UK). Production will pick back up on July 1.

As for the creative team behind the new season, there are some changes moving forward. Back in July 2025, The Last of Us creator Neil Druckmann announced he was not returning as showrunner for season 3, instead focusing on Naughty Dog's upcoming projects.

"As much as I miss getting into the weeds and working on the effects shots and giving script notes and really getting into the details of it, I’m trying to just shepherd it," Druckmann said in September 2025. "My hope for season 3, and what I’d like to think I can best contribute to it, is to make sure it’s as deeply faithful as season 1 was. Because I feel like that is the gold standard for this kind of adaptation, while enjoying all these beautiful expansions that happen naturally with the rest of the team and how they’re working on season 3. So that is where my involvement will stay, is at that very, very high level."

The Last of Us season 3 plot *SPOILERS*

The Last of Us season 3 will continue to adapt The Last of Us Part 2, which follows Ellie as she sets out for revenge against Abby, who brutally murders Joel after it's revealed that the surgeon Joel killed at the end of season 1 was actually Abby's father. And not only that, he was also the only living doctor who was capable of making a cure for the Cordyceps virus. At the end of The Last of Us season 2, Ellie manages to kill all of Abby's friends before she and Abby have their first confrontation, which ends with Jesse's death. Abby then shoots Ellie before we cut to Abby waking up in The Stadium (WLF headquarters) with on-screen text that reads, "Seattle Day One."

Season 3 will focus on Abby's perspective, which will come as no surprise to fans of the game. To explain, The Last of Us Part 2 is told from Ellie and Abby's points of view, with the player controlling both characters. The timeline in the game is then split in two: Ellie's perspective: Jackson, Seattle Day One, Seattle Day Two, Seattle Day Three; Abby's perspective: Seattle Day One, Seattle Day Two, Seattle Day Three; and The Farm/Santa Barbara.

The switch to Abby's perspective shows us what she was doing during those three days that Elie and Dina were hunting her down, and gives us some backstory that makes us reluctantly sympathetic for her and her reasons for killing Joel. Day Three takes us back to the The Last of Us season 2 finale, but from Abby's perspective - the player hunts Ellie down, rather than hide from Abby.

During The Farm part of the game, we see Ellie's life with Dina and their baby. Their peaceful life is interrupted when Tommy pops up and tells Ellie that he's tracked Abby's whereabouts to Santa Barbara - and that she should absolutely go and kill her (which does seem a little out of pocket for TV show Tommy). Ellie does leave for Santa Barbara, which is where Abby and Ellie's final showdown takes place. The game ends from Ellie's perspective.

That being said, we can speculate that The Last of Us season 3 will start with Abby's Seattle Day One, Two, and Three - and potentially end there.

Because a season 4 has been planned (though not yet renewed), it's possible that the fourth season will center on The Farm and Santa Barbara, saving Abby and Ellie's final confrontation until then. It's worth noting that season 2 does change the narrative quite a bit, what with telling us within just the first few minutes of the season that Abby plans to kill Joel - rather than keep her reasoning something of a mystery until we play through her perspective.

Because of this, we can expect many more narrative changes as well as a crop of new characters. It's possible that showrunner and writer Craig Mazin decided to save Lev and Yara, two members of Abby's crew who become essential to Ellie's story, for season 3 so as not to muddle or complicate the main plot.

The Last of Us season 3 cast

Though her friends are dead in the present day timeline, season 3 will show us what Abby was doing in Seattle while Ellie and Dina were hunting her down. Because of this, Abby's crew will return. Bella Ramsey and Isabela Merced will no doubt return, as well as Jeffrey Wright's terrifying Isaac, who has more or less been made a larger antagonist in the show than he was in the game (and we're not complaining). We can also only speculate that deceased characters like Jesse and Joel will appear in flashbacks.

Catherine O'Hara, who tragically passed away on January 30, previously confirmed that she "definitely" wouldn't be appearing in season 3 due to its focus on Abby.

We do know that two new, and very important, game characters will be joining in season 3. Bridgerton star Michelle Mao will be playing Yara and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew star Kyriana Kratter has been cast as Lev.

Brand new characters created specifically for the show are also likely to appear (and the Seraphites will make a return, given that they are the main enemy of the WLF). Based on what we know so far, we've compiled a speculative cast list below.

• Bella Ramsey as Ellie
• Kaitlyn Dever as Abby
• Pedro Pascal as Joel
• Gabriel Luna as Tommy
• Rutina Wesley as Maria
• Isabela Merced as Dina
• Jeffrey Wright as Isaac
• Spencer Lord as Owen
• Tati Gabrielle as Nora
• Danny Ramirez as Manny
• Ariela Barer as Mel
• Alanna Ubach as Hanrahan
• Ben Ahlers as Burton
• Michelle Mao as Yara
• Kyriana Kratter as Lev
• Li Jun Li as Miriam

Is there a The Last of Us season 3 trailer?

There is no trailer for The Last of Us season 3, as filming has only just begun. Because we can speculate that the season will air in 2027, we can most likely expect a trailer around then, if not in late 2026.

Is The Last of Us season 3 the final season?

Mazin and Druckmann have said time and time again – including to GamesRadar+ directly – that they plan to stretch The Last of Us Part 2 over at least two more seasons. After the official season 3 renewal, Mazin told Collider: "There's no way to complete this narrative in a third season. Hopefully, we’ll earn our keep enough to come back and finish it in a fourth. That's the most likely outcome."

HBO boss Casey Bloys, however, said in July 2025 that Mazin is now considering the possibility of only one more season: "Craig is still working it out whether it will be two more seasons or one more long season. It hasn’t been decided yet, and I’m following Craig’s lead on that."

Doubling down on that, Bloys told Deadline in February 2026 that it "certainly seems" like the third chapter will also be the final chapter. "On decisions like that, we will defer to the showrunners," he concluded.

If season 3 follows in its predecessor's footsteps and spans only seven episodes, we can speculate that season 4 will give us the final showdown between Ellie and Abby that happens at the very end of the game.

The Last of Us seasons 1 and 2 are streaming now on HBO Max in the US and NOW in the UK. For more, check out our The Last of Us season 2 review.

The Last of Us season 2, episode 4 (re)introduced us to Jeffrey Wright's Isaac – and it also featured a very subtle callback to The Last of Us Part 2.

The episode opens with a flashback to Isaac's time with FEDRA. After listening to the soldiers brag amongst themselves – one soldier played by Josh Peck, in a surprise cameo – he climbs from the truck, pulls a grenade, and throws it inside, shutting the door afterwards.

It seems like a flashback meant to show us Isaac's ice-cold demeanor, but it's actually a moment from The Last of Us Part 2. In the game, Ellie and Dina open the doors of a FEDRA truck and find multiple dead bodies inside. It looks like we saw the origin story of this very moment. Check out a comparison below.

Really enjoyed this callback to the game from r/ThelastofusHBOseries

"Whoa, I didn't make this connection when I first saw the scene," says one impressed fan. "This just tells me I need another play through, because I didn't make the connection," echoes someone else.

If you've been enjoying The Last of Us season 2, the good news is there seems to be plenty more where that came from. "Certainly, there’s no way to complete this narrative in a third season," co-showrunner Craig Mazin has said recently. "Hopefully, we'll earn our keep enough to come back and finish it in a fourth. That's the most likely outcome."

For more on the show, check out our spoiler-free The Last of Us season 2 review through the link. You can also keep up to date with our The Last of Us season 2 release schedule.

Season 2 of The Last of Us is marching on, and original game co-creator Neil Druckmann is setting the record straight on whether or not the Fireflies would have made a cure if Joel hadn't intervened.

Spoilers for The Last of Us Part 1 and 2.

Since The Last of Us came out in 2013, we've debated if we would have chosen to kill the Firefly doctors to save Ellie or if we would have let them study her brain, killing her, for a chance at finding a cure to the cordyceps infection ravaging the human race. It was an impossible choice: the human race, or your humanity?

A wrinkle in the choice, one that made Joel more sympathetic, was that we didn't know if the Fireflies would actually be able to make a cure. In the game itself, no one knows if Ellie's immunity can be copied or used to help other people. Would you sacrifice a child who'd essentially become your daughter for just a chance to develop a vaccine?

The debate has been raging for 12 years. The ambiguity has led to different perspectives and arguments all being true at once, keeping the game interesting all these years. But now, Druckmann has a definitive answer.

"Could the Fireflies make a cure," Druckmann asks in a clip posted to Reddit? "Our intent was that, yes, they could. Now, is our science a little shaky that now people are questioning it? Yeah, it was a little shaky and now people are questioning that. I can't say anything. All I can say is that our intent is that they would have made a cure."

Neil debunks the cure viability debate once & for all from r/thelastofus

So, there you have it, Joel doomed the world by selfishly choosing to save Ellie. No more debate is needed, it's his fault the cycle of violence continues. "That makes the most interesting philosophical question for what Joel does," Druckmann adds, but a lot of fans disagree.

"I liked the ambiguity of not knowing if there was a 100% success guarantee out of sacrificing Ellie," writes one ResetEra user. Another replies, "Agreed. It should be left unknown."

"Should have left it up in the air," states a fan on Twitter. "This makes the first game look worse… we should’ve never known," writes another.

I'm on the side of the people here. This answer flattens what was once an interesting philosophical debate into a simple trolley problem. Kill one person to save everyone - that's a no-brainer.

There's been a new push to paint Joel as a definite bad guy, removing any of the greyness from his world and the decisions it forces onto the survivors. To Abby, he's the evil man who killed her father, one of the doctors about to operate on Ellie. To Ellie, he's both the man who saved her life and took away its purpose. He was all of these things. But now, he's just the man who doomed the world.

Now that these games are solved, debate done, check out all the upcoming video game release dates. Maybe some of them will also give us endings we discuss for a decade.

The Last of Us season 2 has made a few structural changes from the video game, and one of these involves the show's use of flashbacks.

In episode 6, there are six flashbacks involving Joel: the first one takes us all the way back to 1983 when a teenage Joel is having a heavy conversation with his father, before we jump forward to Ellie's 15th birthday, followed by her 16th birthday, her 19th birthday, and, finally, the aftermath of the New Year's Eve party from the first episode of season 2.

In the video game, however, these scenes are more spread out, but showrunner Neil Druckmann (who also directed this episode) thinks concentrating the flashbacks was the right choice for the adaptation.

"In the game, when you are experiencing one of those flashbacks that are spread out throughout much more, they’re not all consolidated like this – for example, the museum one, whereas in the show it’s a few minutes long, in the game, it could be close to an hour if you’re exploring every different nook and cranny," he explained to Deadline. "You are Ellie, and you’re there with Joel, and they have lots of conversations that you could get into that headspace. You get in the flow state, and you’re experiencing this thing with the two of them."

He continued, "I think if we were to take, let’s say, the scenes that we wrote for this episode, and spread them out over the season, a few things would happen that I think would have a negative effect. There’s one, I don’t know if they would land, because they’re relatively short. And two, you might not be missing Joel enough if we started spreading them throughout the episodes. We felt like for the show, we would get a lot more impact if we brought them all together and you could see them side by side and feel the deterioration of that relationship."

Of course, we haven't seen Joel since episode 2, when he was brutally murdered by Abby. His absence has been felt in the three episodes since, which have revolved around Ellie and Dina's quest for revenge against Abby and her group of fellow WLF members as the pair attempt to track them down in Seattle.

"I also had concerns that the episodes would turn into a bit of a template," Druckmann added. "It’d be like, 'Okay, what’s the Joel flashback this week?' So, it was nice that the characters and the viewers could really miss this character, and then we get in the whole bunch for one last time."

New episodes of The Last of Us season 2 are released weekly on HBO and Max in the US and Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK. Stay up to date with our The Last of Us season 2 release schedule, or check out our The Last of Us season 2 review.

The Last of Us season 2 has revealed the origin of Joel's watch, and it attaches even more significance to it. Spoilers for the latest episode follow.

Episode 6 was full of flashbacks, but one took us back a bit further than the others. The episode opens in 1983, when Joel and Tommy are teenagers. Joel is trying to cover for Tommy so he doesn't get in trouble with their dad, and this results in Joel and his dad having a conversation at their kitchen table.

As one eagle-eyed fan pointed out on Reddit, their father is wearing the watch that his late daughter Sarah fixes and gifts to him in the very first episode of the show, and that Joel continues to wear throughout the series. "Looks like it really is a family heirloom," another fan pointed out.

During the flashback, Joel's father tells his son about the violence he experienced from his own dad and says that if Joel ever has kids of his own, he hopes he does a slightly better job than he has. In the final flashback of the episode, when Ellie confronts Joel on the porch on New Year's Eve about what really went down with the Fireflies at the end of season 1, Joel says a very similar thing to her.

"That hits way too hard, I wonder if Joel forgave him in that last monologue," someone else commented, while one viewer proposed another connection between father and son. "I was trying to see if the revolver on the dad’s hip was the one he used and Ellie now uses, but I couldn’t get a good look," they wrote. "I’m just gonna headcanon it as a yes."

As another commenter pointed out, Joel's revolver is looted from a random dead body in the video game. "In the show it's his original revolver the whole time, which attaches more meaning to it (and even more if it was his dad's too)."

The Last of Us season 2 airs weekly on HBO and Max in the US and Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK. Stay up to date with our The Last of Us season 2 release schedule or, for more on the show, check out our spoiler-free The Last of Us season 2 review.

The Last of Us season 2 amped up a notch with episode 5. This week's installment saw things take an even darker turn for Bella Ramsey's Ellie as she came face-to-face with one of her adversaries – but before we get any further, this is your warning that the following contains major spoilers for The Last of Us season 2 episode 5.

If you're still here, you'll know that Ellie and Dina's second day in Seattle culminated with Ellie confronting Nora (Tati Gabrielle), a WLF doctor who was present when Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) killed Joel (Pedro Pascal) in episode 2.

On the run from both the infected and the WLF, Dina is injured by a Seraphite arrow and Jesse (Young Mazino) takes her to safety, and Ellie slips off to find Nora in the hospital. Nora won't tell her where Abby is and makes a break for it, but Ellie corners her in the hospital's abandoned basement. It's abandoned for a reason, though – the WLF has sealed it off after Cordyceps spores were found down there that cause airborne infection.

Of course, Ellie is still immune, but Nora isn't so lucky and starts to choke to death. She refuses to tell Ellie anything, so Ellie begins to beat a dying Nora with a metal pipe. It's a brutal moment, but fans are loving Ramsey's performance.

"Bella, you absolutely bodied that scene," one fan wrote on Reddit. "I was cautionary about the writing of Ellie so far, but you absolutely nailed it. The cold stare, the slow monotone voice switching to pure anger, all of it. Great work."

"They were absolutely incredible, as always. The scene gave me chills," someone else replied.

"THIS was the Ellie (the cold, killer one) that I was looking forward to seeing," wrote another fan.

"I was a bit worried, after the last episode, that they wouldn’t fully integrate Ellie’s losing of herself on her revenge mission, especially after the pregnancy reveal," said someone else, referring to what Dina tells Ellie in episode 4. "But seeing her leave a wounded Dina and a vulnerable Jesse to go find Nora erased that completely. She put some of the closest people to her second, risking their death, to go get information about Abby. I’m very excited for the remainder of the season."

"When Nora was spouting off about the hospital and Abby's dad, I was wishing for Ellie to say 'I know' especially after the build up between the Joel/Ellie tension in ep1 and Dina telling Ellie the story of her first kill," another fan said. "And then she said it. Stone cold vengeance mode. Such a fantastic moment. Perfect delivery. No notes."

The Last of Us season 2 airs weekly on HBO and Max in the US and Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK. Make sure you never miss an episode with our The Last of Us season 2 release schedule, or catch up with our The Last of Us season 2 review.

The Last of Us season 2 is leaving a few questions unanswered – but only for now. With the second game in the franchise being adapted across two seasons, it looks like we can expect some mysteries to be unravelled in season 3 instead, including the one surrounding Isaac.

Jeffrey Wright's double-crossing FEDRA agent turned WLF leader was introduced in episode 4 of season 2, where we see him torturing a Seraphite at the WLF base in Seattle. The WLF and the Seraphites are at war with one another, but the episode doesn't really give us many answers about the conflict.

"The question is, what is Isaac pursuing? And these questions about this war may not be answered this season. There will be some mysteries," showrunner Craig Mazin said on The Last of Us Season 2 Podcast.

"Now that we’re renewed for season three, we could say, you will definitely get those," his co-showrunner Neil Druckmann added.

"That’s the thing," Mazin continued. "We just didn’t know if we were getting canceled, guys. We will absolutely find out exactly what they’re about, exactly what he wants, which is the most important thing to understand about characters, but there will be some mystery to sit with for a while."

The show was renewed for season 3 ahead of its season 2 premiere last month. While the first Last of Us game was adapted in full in season 1, Part 2 will be split over seasons 2 and 3. Which is our music to our ears, considering there are only three episodes left of season 2…

The Last of Us season 2 is airing weekly on HBO and Max in the US and Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK. Stay up to date with our The Last of Us season 2 release schedule, or get up to speed with our The Last of Us season 2 review.

The problem with The Last of Us season 2 is that it's forcing fans of the original games to go through a nightmarish checklist of stuff they've already experienced. The most notable entry so far is having to endure the final moments of Joel Miller (played in the show by Pedro Pascal, who is no longer present in the opening credits, which we're not okay with) while we and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) are forced to watch them unfold.

One fan of the games and star of the show who's present for that iconic and gut-churning sequence is Tati Gabrielle, who plays one of Abby's (Kaitlyn Dever) friends, Nora. Incredibly, the star was seemingly okay with that heartbreaking scene – it was having to watch another that was created especially for season 2, she couldn't handle. Posting a gorgeous bit of artwork from @mera.kiae on Instagram of Tommy (Gabriel Luna) taking on a Bloater, Gabrielle confessed, "Surprisingly, THIS moment is what gave me the worst video game PTSD lol."

By taking Tommy out of his brother's scene, Joel's brother needed something to do, and unfortunately, that meant battling a monstrous variant of the infected with a flamethrower. While this never happened in the game's story, this kind of confrontation was a common occurrence for many playing it, especially with the added stress of being low on ammo, just like Uncle Tommy was when his weapon started to run out of gas.

Thankfully, Joel's brother lived to fight another day, and that should include providing backup for Ellie as she continues her mission of vengeance against the Salt Lake Crew. You can see how the two get on as The Last of Us continues this week on Max.

The Last of Us season 2 star Isabela Merced says frustrated fans should lean into their emotions while watching Ellie's revenge plot play out over the new season.

"I think watching this, you have to lean into your feelings that you’re feeling in each moment," Merced told the audience at a screening for The Last of Us season 2 episode 3 (via Variety). "I don’t think the writers and the designers of the game wanted you to be wiser. I don’t think they wanted you to be like 'Oh, everyone’s bad because they’re all after their own thing.' I think they really want everyone to lean into their frustration and their pain."

The Last of Us season 2 adapts The Last of Us Part 2 video game, which fast forwards five years to an older, more independent Ellie and wizened, but hardened Joel. Merced plays Dina, with whom Ellie forms an extremely close relationship after meeting at the Jackson settlement.

We won't spoil the new season if you're still catching up, but an earth-shattering event changes the course of Ellie's entire life - and fans of the show (who haven't played the game) did not see the event coming.

Ellie embarks on a mission for revenge with Dina by her side, and we encounter a plethora of new characters who also seemingly only have their own interests in mind. It's an emotional and complex season for sure, but it's worth sticking it through.

Added Merced: "They’re cooking. The meal’s not done yet. I don’t think you have to be bigger than the message."

New episodes of The Last of Us season 2 are released weekly on HBO and Max in the US and Sky and NOW in the UK.

Make sure you don't miss an episode with our The Last of Us season 2 release schedule, or read more about the new season in our spoiler-free The Last of Us season 2 review.

The Last of Us season 2, episode 3 contains a scene Ellie actor Bella Ramsey found the hardest.

The following contains spoilers for The Last of Us season 2 so far, so turn back now if you're not up to date!

If you're still reading, then you'll know that Pedro Pascal's Joel was brutally killed in episode 2. Then, in episode 3, Ramsey's Ellie is seen mourning him, crying while smelling one of his shirts in his closet. As Ramsey has revealed, this was the scene they found the most difficult.

"Oh God, in the closet, that was the hardest [scene]," Ramsey told The Hollywood Reporter. "So I really struggle with crying in scenes. I can get a tear out, but that's different to crying. And even getting the tear, it doesn't come easy for me. I don't cry in front of people in my everyday life. A very, very limited amount of people in my life will see me cry. And so having to do that on a set full of people with the monitor and then more people watching the monitors… it's virtually impossible for me. So I was really worried about that scene, and that was the toughest one for me to shoot."

Showrunner Craig Mazin has also teased that a brutal scene involving Ellie is coming up. "I was scared of her, and I didn't like her, and I didn't want her to do what she's doing," he said. "I look at her, and she's breaking my heart. I'm just like …" He added: "I'm telling you, Bella Ramsey."

You can keep up to date with the show with our The Last of Us season 2 release schedule, or see our The Last of Us season 2 review for our spoiler-free verdict on the entire season.

For more, check out our guide to all the most exciting upcoming shows still to come in 2025.

A small detail in The Last of Us season 2, episode 3 is leaving fans choked up – and it might be teasing a moment that's even sadder.

The following will contain spoilers for The Last of Us season 2 so far as well as the game, so turn back now if you're not up to date!

In the latest episode, Ellie visits Joel's grave after he was brutally murdered in episode 2. She leaves some coffee beans for him, and it's a quiet moment that's destroying fans. "The coffee beans got an audible reaction out of me, goodness," says one person. "I hadn't cried yet and that got the tears flowing," says someone else.

"At least we know they're definitely not going to skip the final porch conversation now," points out this fan – in the game, a devastating flashback reveals Ellie and Joel's final conversation took place on the porch that's seen quickly in episode 1, and Joel references having to trade for coffee (hence the beans).

In the show, Ellie lied to Gail and told her she didn't speak to Joel when she saw him that night.

"We already knew the porch scene was going to happen because Ellie's guitar is back in her room the next morning. But the coffee beans confirm it," says another person.

As upsetting as Joel's death is, though, Pedro Pascal had a surprisingly mellow reaction to it. "I think this is the best one," Pascal joked. "No, it's in competition, I think, with Game of Thrones. It has to be. I love the golf club. I'm going to start golf."

You can keep up to date with the show with our The Last of Us season 2 release schedule, or see our The Last of Us season 2 review for our spoiler-free verdict on the entire season.

For more, check out our guide to all the most exciting upcoming shows still to come in 2025.

It's been almost a week, and the world is still recovering from the loss of Joel Miller (Pedro Pascal) at the hands (and swing) of Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) in season 2 of The Last of Us. Now, it might seem that the show was all about ripping your heart out through this harrowing experience (which it did), but the show's creators have recently revealed they had the best interests of the fans in mind when it came to precisely when it was going to happen. To quote Joel himself, they just needed to do it already.

In an interview with Variety showrunners Neil Druckmann (creator of The Last of Us games) and Craig Mazin revealed that they'd battled with the idea of precisely when the big death was going to happen. "Because even in the game, there’s like an hour or something before you get to this moment. But we also knew it needed to be early enough, because this is the inciting incident for this story," Druckmann explained. "So yes, we always pick every permutation, but the later it got in the season, it just felt we were kind of dragging our feet instead of just getting to the meat of what the story is about."

Getting to that moment was harrowing for all involved, with Pascal himself admitting, "I've never experienced anything like I did that day." Mazin revealed that timing was everything, particularly for those who knew Joel's ride up to that snow-swept building would be his last. "There’s a danger of tormenting people. It’s not what we want to do. If people know it’s coming, they will start to feel tormented," he explained. "And people who don’t know it’s coming are going to find out it’s coming, because people are going to talk about the fact that it hasn’t shown up yet. Our instinct was to make sure that when we did it, that it felt natural in the story and was not some meta-function of us wanting to upset people."

Either way, fans weren't going to finish the episode in the best of moods with Joel's passing, but the trailers have already confirmed that Pascal will be back in later episodes this season, diving into why these two were on tense terms before everything went to hell. To get the full rundown on how episode 2 differs from the events of the game, head here, but don't blame us if you start tearing up again.

Jennifer Aniston made a surprise appearance in The Last of Us season 2, episode 2 – and she's addressed the cameo.

In the episode, Bella Ramsey's Ellie stumbles across a magazine while sheltering from a snowstorm. It's an old issue of People, and on the cover is Aniston. You can just make out the headline "best and worst dressed."

"Of all the things to survive the apocalypse," Aniston wrote on her Instagram story, complete with a laughing emoji (H/T ComicBook.com).

The Cordyceps outbreak happened in 2003 in the show, which makes this magazine a relic over two decades old. We're as surprised as Aniston that it held up all those years.

Episode 2 was a particularly brutal one, too, with (spoiler alert) the death of Pedro Pascal's Joel, murdered by Kaitlyn Dever's Abby as revenge for killing her father back in the season 1 finale. By the sounds of things, it's only going to get worse from here (as players of The Last of Us Part 2 will know).

"I was scared of her, and I didn't like her, and I didn't want her to do what she's doing," showrunner Craig Mazin has said recently of an unseen scene involving Ramsey's Ellie. "I look at her, and she's breaking my heart. I'm just like …" He added: "I'm telling you, Bella Ramsey."

You can keep up to date with the show with our The Last of Us season 2 release schedule, or see our The Last of Us season 2 review for our spoiler-free verdict on the entire season.

For more, check out our guide to all the most exciting upcoming shows still to come in 2025.

The Last of Us season 2 showrunner Craig Mazin has talked about an upcoming terrifying moment from Bella Ramsey's Ellie.

"I was scared of her, and I didn't like her, and I didn't want her to do what she's doing,” Mazin told The Hollywood Reporter. "I look at her, and she's breaking my heart. I'm just like …" He added: "I'm telling you, Bella Ramsey."

The Last of Us season 2 has already shocked viewers with that brutal moment in episode 2, which sees Joel murdered by Kaityln Dever's Abby – and, if you've played The Last of Us Part 2, you might have a good idea of what Mazin could be talking about for Ramsey's Ellie.

"Understanding [from the show's outset] the limited time me and Pedro have together has made us really cherish each other more," Ramsey has said previously of bidding goodbye to Pedro Pascal, who plays Joel in the show. "It was something that we got quite emotional about while we were shooting. We'll be in each other's lives forever, and we'll be in each other's hearts forever."

Pascal, meanwhile, has shared a more lighthearted response. "I think this is the best one," Pascal joked. "No, it's in competition, I think, with Game of Thrones. It has to be. I love the golf club. I'm going to start golf."

You can keep up to date with the show with our The Last of Us season 2 release schedule, or see our The Last of Us season 2 review for our spoiler-free verdict on the entire season.

For more, check out our guide to all the most exciting upcoming shows still to come in 2025.