Anyone who has played the games on which HBO’s “The Last of Us” is based knows that things are about to get intense. Without spoiling a single thing, the video game “The Last of Us, Part II” turns up the volume on the first game’s themes of individual responsibility set against the greater good with blood and trauma. Creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have not watered down any of the game’s violent intensity for their 7-episode sophomore season, delivering a show that they’ve accurately compared to “The Empire Strikes Back” in both its bleak tone and how it sets up a third outing. The first season had the privilege of telling the self-contained story of the first game. But Druckmann and company knew they couldn’t get all of “Part II” into one season, a decision that could lead some to call this year incomplete. While artistically satisfying in its own right, trust that it’s all setup for what’s to come in season three (and possibly beyond).
The first season of “The Last of Us” concluded with Joel Miller (Pedro Pascal) saving his surrogate daughter Ellie (Bella Ramsey) from a treatment that would have killed her but could have saved the world. The final conversation of that season, in which Joel lies to Ellie about what happened, will naturally shape the direction of this one. Five years later, the pair in relative comfort in a thriving Jackson, Wyoming—a rebuilt city with power, structure, and even a government of sorts. Joel is one of the leaders, of course, but there’s emotional tension from the start of the season that’s reflected in the fractured relationship between him and Ellie. We don’t know why, but sessions between Joel and the town therapist Gail (a fantastic Catherine O’Hara, truly having a moment between this and “The Studio,” respectively the best drama and comedy on TV right now) hint at recent decisions that split them more than even your normal dad-and-teenage-daughter.
Thrust into this taut dynamic is Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) and her group of allies, who are introduced much earlier than in the game, though it’s difficult to explain how and why without swimming in spoiler-filled waters. It suffices to say that Dever works as the controversial Abby, a character who plays a significant role in this season and will play an even bigger one in the third. She is a counterweight to Ellie, another young woman sent on a violent trajectory via trauma, someone who will be forced to decide between favoring her personal aggression or the needs of others. Dever is a fantastic actress who is essentially just introduced this season for the bigger role she’ll play in the next. But she does exactly what she needs to this year to lay that crucial foundation.
This season belongs to Ramsey, who gets to take Ellie to dark places that non-game fans won’t be expecting. If the first season of HBO’s hit show got flak for not having enough action for gamers or even horror fans, those criticisms are eradicated by a 7-episode run that barely lets up (and when it does, it’s to register the emotional damage those events wrought). The action and horror are enhanced by the artistry of a show that looked phenomenal in 2023, but is even visually stronger this time, with effects, cinematography, editing, and other craft elements that outclass most feature films. Several stretches of season two use the game like a storyboard and match nearly shot for shot. Still, there’s a stunning fluidity between those and the ones the Druckmann devised for the show, including new characters like the aforementioned Gail and other cameos we’ve been asked not to reveal. I’ve played both games twice through and consistently marvel at how the visual language of the source and the requirements of television are intertwined into their own captivating thing.
Two standouts among the new characters warrant specific praise. Oscar nominee Jeffrey Wright starts his arc as the villainous Isaac in the fourth episode, and he’s spectacular as you’d expect, imbuing the character with cruelty that comes from the horror of what he’s seen. How do you maintain humanity when you’ve seen how easily others can destroy it? He also voiced the character in the game, so he knows this guy down to his empty soul. The other is Isabela Merced as Dina, Ellie’s romantic partner, whom the show expands on in necessary ways. Merced is first a ray of light in a show surrounded by darkness, but she smartly refuses to merely play Dina as a counter to Ellie, giving her a strong personality of her own.
The second season of “The Last of Us” feels destined to divide audiences more than the first, both by the very nature of being an incomplete story and for some of the incredibly dark places it goes. It’s a season that asks viewers to interrogate the cost of tough decisions, a masterful study in ripple effects from Joel losing his daughter in the prologue to how that influenced his commitment to saving Ellie. Being a hero for one person can make you a villain for another. That’s a tough thing to render, and for viewers to consider. But “The Last of Us” succeeded as a game franchise because it trusted the emotional intelligence of gamers, and the show does the same for TV viewers.
“The Last of Us” returns to television at a time when world headlines seem increasingly ripped from post-apocalyptic visions of the future in entertainment of the past. The first season was criticized by some for being too timely, given that the world was still reeling from a pandemic. It will be interesting to see if the real world’s increased instability impacts the way people respond to the second season, one that offers no comfort or escapism. Many people upset about the state of things in 2025 have tried to cope with phrases about pushing through the darkness to find the light. What “The Last of Us” proposes is that it can always get darker.
Whole season screened for review. Starts on HBO on April 13, 2025.
