Overview
In the first season of The Last of Us, Joel (Pedro Pascal, The Wild Robot) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget) didn't always get along, but their best chance for survival was together. In season two, as the just-dropped full trailer for the HBO hit's long-awaited return shows, that may no longer be the case. Amid warnings about monsters — and scenes showing why those cautions are so important — the most-haunting moment of the new sneak peek arrives with two words: "you swore".
Ellie flings that phrase at Joel like she's throwing a weapon — and it cuts deep. Exactly why, and also why the pair are in conflict with each other, will start to be revealed from Monday, April 14, 2025. Yes, the wait for this game-to-TV smash's seven-episode second season is almost over. In Australia, watching The Last of Us season two will also mean signing up for a new streaming service, as it'll stream via HBO's own platform Max, which is launching locally on Monday, March 31.
How does humanity endure in the aftermath of the Cordyceps virus, and the global devastation caused by it? What does it mean to persist? Also, who do we become in the process? Audiences will find out again in mid-autumn. The new trailer for The Last of Us isn't the first glimpse at the show's second season — others have come as images, in promos for the network's full upcoming slate and via teaser trailers — but it does firmly set the scene for what's to come.
Prepare for a time jump. Prepare for a guitar. Prepare for hordes of infected. Prepare for flames. Prepare for an eerie feeling, too. Also, prepare for sirens, flares and a stern warning: "there are just some things everyone agrees are just wrong", one of the teasers advises. In season two, it's been five years since the events of season one. And while there has been peace, it clearly isn't here to stay.
The show's main duo also have company from both familiar faces and a heap of newcomers in its second season. Rutina Wesley (Monster High) and Gabriel Luna (Fubar) return as Maria and Tommy, while Kaitlyn Dever (Apple Cider Vinegar), Isabela Merced (Alien: Romulus), Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction), Young Mazino (Beef), Ariela Barer (How to Blow Up a Pipeline), Tati Gabrielle (Kaleidoscope), Spencer Lord (Family Law), Danny Ramirez (Black Mirror) and Catherine O'Hara (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice) are the season's additions.
The Last of Us made the leap from video games to TV in 2023, and was swiftly renewed after proving a massive smash instantly. The series gave HBO its most-watched debut season of a show ever — and its first episode was also the network's second-largest debut of all time. Locking in a second season was also hardly surprising because the 2013 game inspired a 2014 expansion pack and 2020 sequel.
For first-timers to the franchise on consoles and as a TV series, The Last of Us kicked off 20 years after modern civilisation as we know it has been toppled by a parasitic fungal infection that turns the afflicted into shuffling hordes. Pascal plays Joel, who gets saddled with smuggling 14-year-old Ellie (his Game of Thrones co-star Ramsey) out of a strict quarantine zone to help possibly save humanity's last remnants. There wouldn't be a game, let alone a television version, if that was an easy task, of course — and if the pair didn't need to weather quite the brutal journey.
As a television series, The Last of Us hails from co-creator, executive producer, writer and director Craig Mazin, who already brought a hellscape to HBO (and to everyone's must-watch list) thanks to the haunting and horrifying Chernobyl. He teams up here with Neil Druckmann from Naughty Dog, who also penned and directed The Last of Us games.
Check out the full trailer for The Last of Us season two below:
The Last of Us season two will arrive on Monday, April 14, 2025 Down Under, streaming via Max in Australia and Neon in New Zealand. Read our review of the first season.
Images: Liane Hentscher/HBO.