"By the time the sun comes up tomorrow, there's a very good chance you'll be dead."
Human infected by Cordyceps crawling along the show to attack a fortress. Human infected by Cordyceps crawling along the show to attack a fortress.
Credit: YouTube/HBO
Pedro Pascal returns as Joel in The Last of Us S2.
HBO released a one-minute teaser of the hotly anticipated second season of The Last of Us—based on Naughty Dog's hugely popular video game franchise—during CES in January. We now have a full trailer, unveiled at SXSW after the footage leaked over the weekend, chock-full of Easter eggs for gaming fans of The Last of Us Part II.
(Spoilers for S1 below.)
The series takes place in the 20-year aftermath of a deadly outbreak of mutant fungus (Cordyceps) that turns humans into monstrous zombie-like creatures (the Infected, or Clickers). The world has become a series of separate totalitarian quarantine zones and independent settlements, with a thriving black market and a rebel militia known as the Fireflies making life complicated for the survivors. Joel (Pedro Pascal) is a hardened smuggler tasked with escorting the teenage Ellie (Bella Ramsay) across the devastated US, battling hostile forces and hordes of zombies, to a Fireflies unit outside the quarantine zone. Ellie is special: She is immune to the deadly fungus, and the hope is that her immunity holds the key to beating the disease.
S2 is set five years after the events of the first season and finds the bond beginning to fray between plucky survivors Joel and Ellie. That's the inevitable outcome of S1's shocking finale, when they finally arrived at their destination, only to discover the secret to her immunity to the Cordyceps fungus meant Ellie would have to die to find a cure. Ellie was willing to sacrifice herself, but once she was under anesthesia, Joel went berserk and killed all the hospital staff to save her life—and lied to Ellie about it, claiming the staff were killed by raiders.
man with mustache firing a rifle in a snowy setting.
Taking aim at a horde of attacking zombies. YouTube/HBO
girl with flashlight finds an infected human in a dark basement in the process of being overgrown with the fungus
Ellie makes another tragic discovery. YouTube/HBO
Taking aim at a horde of attacking zombies. YouTube/HBO
Ellie makes another tragic discovery. YouTube/HBO
"You're going to lose." YouTube/HBO
Ellie learns the truth: "You swore." YouTube/HBO
"You're going to lose." YouTube/HBO
Ellie learns the truth: "You swore." YouTube/HBO
Gabriel Luna and Rutina Wesley reprise their S1 roles as Joel's younger brother Tommy and his pregnant wife, Maria, respectively. Joining the cast this year are Kaitlyn Dever as a vengeance-seeking soldier named Abby; Young Mazino as Jesse; Isabela Merced as Dina, Jesse's ex and a romantic interest for Ellie; Danny Ramirez as a loyal soldier named Manny; Ariela Barer as a doctor named Mel; Tati Gabrielle as a military medic named Nora; Spencer Lord as Owen; and Jeffrey Wright as Isaac, who leads a militia (Wright played the same role in the video game). Catherine O'Hara will also appear as Joel's therapist, Gail.
Even if you're not familiar with the games, there's plenty to like in this evocative trailer, which teases a wintry showdown between human survivors and a horde of Cordyceps-infested zombies—including taking out a zombie by immolating it with a flame thrower. Alas, the odds are against team human, with at least one newly infected person declaring, "You're gonna lose." And yes, Ellie learns the truth about what Joel did and is suitably horrified when she confronts him: "You swore." We're looking forward to what promises to be a stellar new installment in the TV saga.
The second season of The Last of Us premieres on April 13, 2025, on HBO and Max.