The Last of Us season 2: release date, trailer, confirmed cast, plot synopsis, and more on the popular HBO show's return

The Last of Us season 2 will be with us before we know it. The incredibly popular HBO show will return on April 13 (US) and April 14 (UK and Australia), so its second season is less than a month away from making its small screen debut.

Ahead of The Last of Us' (TLoU) return, then, you'll want to read what we know about it. To that end, I've rounded up the biggest and latest news on one of the best Max shows' second chapter, including details about its trailers, confirmed cast, story beats, and the series' future.

Full spoilers follow for The Last of Us season 1 and Naught Dog's videogame franchise that the show is based on. Potential season 2 spoilers also follow.

The Last of Us season 2 release date

The Last of Us season 2 will launch on Sunday, April 13 in the US, and Monday, April 14 in the UK and Australia. HBO confirmed The Last of Us season 2's release date in mid-February.

One month earlier, Sony revealed The Last of Us 2's April 2025 release window at CES 2025. That narrowed down the early 2025 launch window that HBO boss Casey Bloys discussed in November 2024 – comments that arrived two months after Bloys teased its early to mid-2025 launch.

As for where you'll be able to watch season 2, US and Australian viewers can view it on Max. The streamer finally launches in Australia on March 31, so those Down Under can watch it there. UK audiences will still be able to catch it on Sky and Now TV.

The Last of Us season 2 trailer

As I predicted when The Last of Us season 2's official release date was announced, its latest trailer was unveiled at South by South West (SXSW) Festival in early March. It amassed 158 million views in the first three days post-release, too, which makes this trailer the most-watched in HBO history.

Anyway, it teased a huge showdown between Bella Ramsey's Ellie and Pedro Pascal's Joel, too, but the big moment we're all waiting for (well, those of us who have played the games) hasn't been revealed at all. Hey, why ruin it for those who haven't touched Naughty Dog's TLoU game series?

Missed another teaser that arrived in January and, while it had fans gushing over every detail it contains, it also concerned some about the welfare of one of its new cast members? Check it out below:

There was another The Last of Us season 2 trailer that was released as part of the 2024 edition of The Last of Us Day, aka September 26, aka the in-universe date that the Cordyceps virus ravaged humanity and destroyed life as we know it. However, it's been made private on HBO's YouTube channel, so you can't watch it anymore. Ho hum.

Still, you can still check out a Max sizzle reel trailer highlighting the streamer's forthcoming lineup of thrilling HBO shows, which contains other season 2 footage. That sizzle reel came almost three months after the first images for The Last of Us' second season were revealed.

The Last of Us season 2 confirmed cast

Here's the official cast list for The Last of Us season 2 so far:

• Pedro Pascal as Joel
• Bella Ramsey as Ellie
• Gabriel Luna as Tommy
• Rutina Wesley as Maria
• Kaitlyn Dever as Abby
• Isabela Merced as Dina
• Young Mazino as Jesse
• Ariela Barer as Mel
• Tati Gabrielle as Nora
• Spencer Lord as Owen
• Jeffrey Wright as Isaac
• Danny Ramirez as Manny
• Joe Pantoliano as Eugene
• Catherine O'Hara as TBC

The first four actors reprise their roles from season 1, and they'll be joined in the major player category by No One Will Save You's Kaitlyn Dever as Abby, the second game's deuteragonist and season 2's primary antagonist.

Per an Entertainment Weekly (EW) interview, Dever's Abby isn't as muscular as her videogame counterpart because, as co-showrunner Neil Druckmann said, "that doesn't play as big of a role in this version of the story because there's not as much violent action moment to moment. It's more about the drama. I'm not saying there's no action here. It's just, again, different priorities and how you approach it."

Dever is joined on the newcomers front by Beef star Young Mazino as one of Ellie's friends Jesse, while Alien: Romulus' Isabela Merced plays another of Ellie's companions (and girlfriend) Dina. We don't know the identity of O'Hara's character, but she's confirmed to be Joel's therapist who he discusses that season 1 finale moment with.

Elsewhere, Wright reprises his role as Isaac Dixon, leader of the Washington Liberation Front and a key ally of Abby's, who he also portrayed in The Last of Us Part II. Ramirez, Gabrielle, Barer, and Lord are also playing other members of the Washington Liberation Front who appear in the games.

Lastly, in a lengthy Variety piece, Druckmann confirmed that Pantoliano's Eugene, a character with a very minor role in The Last of Us Part II, will get the Bill and Frank treatment this season – i.e., a large expansion of his personal arc from the games. In November 2023, Druckmann confirmed season 2 will contain brand-new material not seen in the games, so this appears to be what he was teasing almost 18 months ago.

"I get excited when I see these opportunities," Druckmann said. "I’m like, ‘Oh, I don’t know Eugene that well!’ The story we told [in the game] was somewhat superficial. The way this character comes in really gets to the heart of Joel and Ellie and their relationship."

The Last of Us season 2 plot synopsis and rumors

Major spoilers follow for The Last of Us season 1 and Naughty Dog videogame The Last of Us Part II.

Here's The Last of Us season 2's official logline: "After five years of peace following the events of the first season, Joel and Ellie’s collective past catches up to them, drawing them into conflict with each other and a world even more dangerous and unpredictable than the one they left behind."

That's not a lot to go on but, based on TLoU Part II, plus what happened in the season 1 finale, I've got a good idea of what'll happen this season. I won't discuss major spoilers from the second game – I'm not that heartless – but there are some spoiler-less aspects I can discuss.

Firstly, The Last of Us' second chapter will only have seven episodes – Mazin saying it felt like the "natural breakpoint" for the story. Considering he and Druckman plan to tell TLoU Part II's story across two seasons, that as good a reason as any to make it episodically shorter than season 1.

As the logline confirms, season 2, like The Last of Us Part II, is set five years after its predecessor, so Joel and Ellie will be part of the population of Jackson, the Wyoming town that the traveled to in order to find Joel's brother Tommy in season 1.

Things will take a turn for the worse between the pair, though. In season 1 episode 9, Joel didn't tell Ellie what actually happened at the Fireflies camp – i.e., that they were going to kill her in order to develop a cure for the Cordyceps infection. Ellie is completely immune to the disease, which is why the Fireflies were so keen to get their hands on her.

When Joel finds out, he massacres them to save Ellie's life. It's an understandable decision, especially after what happened to his own daughter Sarah in season 1's opening episode. Nevertheless, he's seemingly consigned humanity to continue its fight against the infection with his selfish actions and, as evidenced by the footage we've seen, he's still feeling guilty about not coming clean to Ellie.

Elsewhere, there are new intruders looking to avenge deaths from season 1, and one specific event will culminate in a catastrophic and shocking death (if you know, you know).

Other characters will have to forge new alliances, there’s a new religious cult on the scene – the Seraphites – for Ellie and company to deal with, a new ex-Fireflies militia force called the Washington Liberation Front, and another terrifying group who enslave people called the Rattlers. All in all, our heroes are in for a stressful, violent, emotional, and much darker season.

If that sounds like season 2 will ignore the Infected in favor of human-on-human action, don't fret. Speaking to Variety in March 2023, Mazin and Druckmann said of the Infected – whose design was inspired by bean sprouts, the show's VFX animation supervisor told TechRadar – confirmed there'll be a greater variety of flesh-hungry monsters for our heroes and villains to worry about this season.

During season 2's SXSW panel, Druckmann also confirmed that spores – the manner in which the virus is transferred from one person to the next – will be introduced this season, too. What that means for the tendrils-based method of infection, which was used in season 1, is anyone's guess.

Just as season 1 expanded on the franchise's universe and characters, its follow-up will do likewise. Previously, Druckmann told TechRadar that "we couldn't have told this story in the game", the TV adaptation's timeline change was made to "help make the story more real", and the show's third episode allowed it to "go in a different direction" to what plays out in the games.

So, there's a precedent for Naughty Dog, HBO, and Sony Pictures Television (the show's three production companies) to make changes where necessary. It's unclear, though, if Eugene's story will be the only major addition.

Chatting to Deadline, Druckmann also said the show's executive team is playing around with how much might change in the TV adaptation's next entry, teasing: "The moment-to-moment beats and characters, they might stay the same, they might change. We will do what needs to happen to that story as it transfers from one medium to another". Mazin also suggested we won't see every storyline from The Last of Us Part II in season 2 because, well...

Will The Last of Us season 2 be the final installment?

While there are only two video games, HBO's adaptation seemed set to run for three seasons.

Speaking to Deadline, Mazin confirmed a third season was in the offing, adding : "It [the second game] is going to be more than one season. There’s more story, so this show will not end with season 2 unless people don’t watch it and we’ll get cancelled."

However, HBO's Head of TV Francesca Orsi has hinted that The Last of Us could last for four seasons. It remains to be seen if TLoU Part II's plot will be spread across three seasons, so we'll have to see how much of its story is told in season 2 before we can speculate further.

For more Max TV-based coverage, read our guides on Euphoria season 3, House of the Dragon season 3, Peacemaker season 2, and Creature Commandos season 2.