Joel and Ellie are back for The Last of Us season 2 and slightly more grizzled this time around.

Entertainment Weekly unveiled two photos offering a sneak peek at the hit HBO series’ leads, both of which were shown at a Warner Bros. Discovery Upfront presentation. One image shows Joel (Pedro Pascal) with a new jacket and slightly longer hair standing above a light-decorated room, the location baring a strong resemblance to a key The Last of Us Part II cutscene. The other picture, meanwhile, shows Ellie (Bella Ramsey) dressed in a winter coat and hat while carrying a shotgun, though who she’s hunting remains unclear.

Filming on The Last of Us season 2 begun in February, with casting announcements and behind the scene images further teasing it as an adaptation of the acclaimed yet controversial 2020 sequel to Naughty Dog’s 2013 post-apocalyptic game. Recent leaked set photos showed Ramsey and co-star Isabela Merced — who will play Ellie’s love interest Dina — in Vancouver riding a horse together in costumes that resemble their game counterparts. Merced’s casting was announced in January, along with Young Mazino (Beef) as Dina’s ex Jessie and Kaitlyn Dever as Abby, the game’s antagonist-turned-secondary protagonist and main target of Ellie’s vengeance. In March, Danny Ramirez, Tati Gabrielle, Ariela Barer, and Spencer Lord joined season 2’s cast as Manny, Nora, Mel, and Owen, members of the Washington Liberation Front whose ties to Abby cause Ellie to go after them as well.

The Last of Us Has Been Very Successful

The first season of The Last of Us was a critical and commercial hit for HBO, earning widespread universal acclaim and becoming the most-watched Max series last year, though Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV recently surpassed it. These accolodates extended to its award wins, taking home eight Creative Arts Emmy Awards including Outstanding Picture Editing, Outstanding Sound Editing, and Outstanding Guest Actor/Actress wins for Nick Offerman and Storm Reid. Regarding how season 2 will one-up its predecessor, HBO head of drama Francesca Orsi claimed last year that co-showrunner Craig Mazin will take “a big swing from both an entertainment standpoint, related to the clickers, but also just the more nuanced, complex character dynamic between our characters, Joel, Ellie and beyond.”

Additionally, The Last of Us debuted amidst a sea of better-received video game adaptations with the general public, including Netflix’s Castlevania, Arcane, and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners series. 2023 also saw the release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which became the year’s second-highest grossing movie after Barbie, while Prime Video released its Fallout TV adaptation last month to widespread acclaim.

Season 1 of The Last of Us is available to stream on Max.

Source: EW