The Last of Us season 2 release window confirmed by HBO boss
There isn't too much longer to wait...
HBO boss Casey Bloys has confirmed that The Last of Us will return for its second run in the first half of 2025.
Although he didn't delve into specifics regarding exactly when the show would arrive, he told Deadline that "all I’ll say now" is that both The Last of Us and the next season of The White Lotus would be arriving "generally [in the] first half of the year".
He added that he expects them to be released "in the Emmy window" – which suggest that both shows will arrive before the end of May, which tends to be the cut-off point for Emmy eligibility.
Back in May, HBO unveiled first-look images of season 2, showing Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey back in action in the post-apocalyptic drama, before the first teaser trailer for the new run was released in August.
The footage opened with an undisclosed new character played by Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice) asking Joel (Pascal): “What did you do?”
The second run will be adapted from the sequel game, released in 2020, which takes place five years after the events of the original, and opens with a relatively settled Joel and Ellie (Ramsey) in Wyoming.
However, trouble comes for them once again when they cross paths with Abby (Dopesick star Kaitlyn Dever), a soldier with a personal vendetta against Joel.
The first season premiered on HBO in early 2023 and became the most-viewed title ever on the streaming service in Europe, while it also attracted wild critical acclaim and won a number of awards (as well as being named the Best TV show of 2023 by RadioTimes.com).
Read more:
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The new run will be slightly shorter than the first – consisting of seven episodes instead of nine – but Craig Mazin revealed that it won't be covering the entirety of the second game, so fans needn't worry about the show compressing the game's story.
Production on season 2 wrapped last month – and with Bloys now confirming an early 2025 release date, we won't have to wait too much longer before it's back on our screens.
The Last of Us is available on Sky and NOW. Get one month free Sky Stream, Sky TV and Netflix.
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Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.