The Last of Us is back to break your heart. Here’s what we know

This story features spoilers from season one of The Last of Us.

Your favourite show about mushroom zombies and complete emotional devastation is returning for its second season and, judging by the first full trailer released this weekend, it will be just as heart-wrenching.

The new footage features huge action set pieces including a horde of the Infected storming the wall of a settlement, a new romance for Ellie (Bella Ramsey), and a tense moment between her and Joel (Pedro Pascal). “You swore,” the teen snarls at him, as he looks on dejected and full of guilt. It seems like the events of that harrowing season one finale are about to catch up with him.

What happened in season one again?

Based on the beloved 2013 video game of the same name, The Last of Us is set in a post-apocalyptic United States where a mutated fungus has transformed the majority of the population into zombie-like creatures. Season one followed Joel, a smuggler who lost his daughter at the start of the outbreak, as he’s asked to transport a young girl who is seemingly immune to the infection across the country.

In the final episode, the pair reach their destination – a hospital run by rebel group the Fireflies – and Joel learns of their plan to harvest Ellie’s brain to attempt to create a cure. But, unable to part with his surrogate daughter, he guns down the hospital to rescue her, then lies to her about what went down. When Ellie wakes up afterwards, she makes him swear on his story, that the Fireflies already failed to produce a cure from other immune people and thus didn’t need her.

This ending – which proved just as heart-wrenching and contentious in the game – was hailed by critics as “a brutal, sadistic triumph”. But it arguably wasn’t even the most memorable episode. That honour goes to Long, Long Time: the beautiful yet heartbreaking standalone that told the story of two men, played by Murray Bartlett and Nick Offerman, who build a loving and mostly peaceful life over the course of the outbreak. It was widely celebrated (Offerman took home an Emmy, with Bartlett also nominated) and noted as an inventive and progressive change from the game where Offerman’s character has a very small role.

What’s new for season two?

Echoing the plot of the 2020 game The Last of Us – Part II, the show’s second season picks up five years after the events of season one’s finale and will feature Joel and Ellie “drawn into conflict with each other and a world even more dangerous and unpredictable than the one they left behind”.

Kaitlyn Dever (Apple Cider Vinegar) joins the cast this season in a major role.Credit: HBO

Kaitlyn Dever, who played Belle Gibson in Netflix’s Apple Cider Vinegar, joins the cast as Abby – a central antagonist of the game. And she’s joined by other new cast members, including Isabela Merced as Ellie’s romantic interest Dina; Young Mazino as Jesse, Dina’s ex; Jeffrey Wright, reprising his role from the game as militia leader Issac; and Noah Lamanna as Ellie’s ex-girlfriend who designed her tattoo. Catherine O’Hara will also guest star and, judging by a previous teaser trailer, appears to play Joel’s therapist.

What have the creators said?

Showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, the latter of whom was also writer and creative director of the games, have said season two will cover some of the events of Part II (subsequent seasons will also draw from the game) and there will be plenty of changes from the source material.

“It’s a different version of that story, but its DNA is in there,” Druckmann told Variety recently. 

Pedro Pascal returns as Joel in The Last of Us. Credit: HBO

One of those changes is expanding the scope of the world in the style of the Bartlett-Offerman episode. Joe Pantoliano (The Matrix, The Sopranos), for instance, has been cast in the role of Eugene – a characterfeatured only in a photograph in the game.

Mazin agrees he doesn’t feel “constrained by the source material”. But, when pressed by Esquire about one particular event that game fans are anticipating, he promised the show will still be as brutal as ever. “This should be fairly obvious to anyone by now, but I don’t fear killing characters,” he said.

Where do we watch?

The Last of Us will air weekly from April 14, exclusively on Max. But … what is Max?

This new streaming platform is launching in Australia on March 31 and will feature all of your favourite HBO content. Foxtel subscribers will have access to the app at no additional cost. However, if you’ve previously watched The Last of Us on Binge, you’ll need a new way forward.

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