HBO is currently working on bringing the second season of The Last of Us to life, but there are still a few months before it’s ready to air. In recent weeks, we’ve seen set photos leak from inside the production, revealing costumes, locations, story points, and some of the newly casted actors in roles pulled straight from The Last of Us Part II (2020).
Recently, Neil Druckmann, the series’ creator and head at Naughty Dog, sat down with Variety to talk about the expectations for the second season of the award-winning live-action adaptation.
Diving Deeper
One thing that the first season did so well was setting up a little more meat on the bones in terms of backstories for the characters, both lead and supporting. There was an entire episode dedicated to the origin story of Bill and Frank, relatively understated characters in the game but the source of an intense and deeply emotional sub-story in the television series.
It was that episode that pulled in one of The Last of Us’ Emmy Awards.
When speaking recently to Variety, Druckmann suggested that the concept of diving into important backstories will surface again in the second season:
And there’s stuff in this season that I’m really excited about — stuff that we hinted at — one scene in particular comes to mind that I think fans of the game will eat up, because it really kind of tells you a lot of backstory of this important character that there wasn’t really a way for us to even do that in the game.
That could be any number of characters. The Last of Us Part II is diverse, lengthy, and brings together a wild cast of characters in a story that unravels over many hours. Many have suggested that it could be an exploration of ‘Lev’, a runaway ‘Seraphite’ in the game who forms a tight bond with Abby, one of the game’s antagonists.
Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin have been true to the source material of The Last of Us while at the same time pushing their creative license into new ways to portray the universe that was uncovered when the franchise began way back in 2013. There are very few faults with the first season, and the hype for the second remains consistent and high – I’m expecting great things.
For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news about the Meta Quest 3S reveal
