Today is “Outbreak Day.” September 26th is the day, in the fictional world of The Last Of Us created by Naughty Dog, when the cordyceps virus brought the world to its knees. For eleven years the day has been celebrated by gamers and later TV audiences, and today it’s being celebrated with a very special treat.
HBO has released the first Season 2 trailer for its hit post-apocalyptic series The Last Of Us. The show, which is based on the video game series of the same name, stars Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie. Kaitlyn Dever joins the cast as Abby, though she looks more like the video game version of Ellie than Ramsey does.
We get lots of quick glimpses of both moments of tenderness and joy, and terrifying violence. Here’s the trailer:
It appears that Catherine O’Hara’s character is some kind of therapist or community leader. She sits with Joel in the opening of the trailer and gives some sage advice. “You can’t heal something unless you’re brave enough to say it out loud,” she says, almost serving as narration as we watch other events unfold. “Say the thing that you’re afraid to say. Say it out loud, no matter what it is. No matter how bad. What did you do?”
Well, Catherine, I killed a bunch of people including doctors and then lied to my surrogate daughter about it to save her life.
That’s how the first season—and the first game—ended. The second season, if it follows in the second game’s footsteps, will be about reckoning with that lie and the butterfly effect Joel’s actions have on his and Ellie’s fate. Personally, I didn’t love where the game took this story. Then again, I’m in the camp that argues vehemently that Joel did the right and moral thing. I’ve argued this many times. I do not believe that sacrificing the one to save the many is morally sound. Just as crucially, I do not believe that the Fireflies were capable of creating a vaccine and Ellie’s death would have been for nothing. Many take a different view, believing Joel’s actions to be entirely selfish and quite possibly damning the entire human race.
I say that if we start killing innocent girls in their sleep to find a cure, the human race doesn’t deserve to be saved.
This trailer is excellent. It doesn’t give away too much—the bane of so many trailers these days—but it promises a great deal. Action, suspense, horror, betrayal, love. We see Isabela Merced as Dina, Ellie’s love interest in the second season, as well as other returning faces.
In my review, I called The Last Of Us Part II a “beautiful, terrible” sequel. I wonder if the second season will follow suit. I have concerns, including Bella Ramsey’s ability to portray a more grown-up and physically intimidating Ellie. She’s a fine actor, but she doesn’t look the part. I also worry about Joel for reasons I won’t elaborate on. How they will present Abby and her arc also remains a mystery. Perhaps it will work better on TV than it did in the game.
There’s a 2025 release date at the end, but nothing to narrow that down. Showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have said this season will be shorter than the first, with just seven episodes. That’s a red flag given how long the second game was compared to the first—and HBO’s other big show, The House Of The Dragon, which had a truncated second season that did much more harm than good.
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