(Spoilers for The Last of Us season 1) For gamers, the sequel to Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us was quite more expansive, making many to scratch their heads at how the show will tackle its story. In an interview with GQ, co-creator of the game and show Neil Druckmann and co-creator of the series Craig Mazin confirmed that The Last of Us season 2 would only adapt some of Part 2, opening up for more seasons to complete the story.
The interview explores the process of adapting the iconic video game, but that eventually led to talking about the already greenlit and currently being written season 2 of The Last of Us. Thankfully, the interviewer, Sam White, brought up the discourse surrounding how the second game would be adapted. Mazin shook his head and said, “No way,” to the idea of having it all in one season. Druckmann confirmed multiple seasons to be needed, but Mazin was quick to shut down a definitive answer as to how many it would take.
The Last of Us season 2 only will partially adapt Part 2, more seasons needed
The second game takes place five years after the events of the first game. Despite some deviations, the adaption stayed close to the original game’s ending. Joel (Pedro Pascal) stops the surgery to possibly make a cure that would also kill Ellie (Bella Ramsey) by killing anyone in his way at the Firefly hospital. The second game focuses on Ellie as she goes down a path of revenge toward a group based in Seattle known as W.L.F. (Washington Liberation Front.
The main reason that it would take multiple seasons rather than adapt the sequel game all in The Last of Us season 2 is due to its length and use of time. The game uses a lot of time jumps, with liberal use of flashbacks, to tell its story. It tells the story of Ellie and other characters to provide a full perspective of the different sides of the story.
Pascal and Ramsey are set to reprise their roles in the series. Nobody else has been confirmed to return, and nobody is set for the new characters to be introduced. Some keen-eyed fans suspect that it has set up one character, Dina, who in the game was played by Westworld star Shannon Woodward, after spotting a mysterious girl in Jackson, the commune that Joel’s brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna) lives in.