Posted in: HBO, TV | Tagged: the last of us, the last of us part 2

The Last of Us: Druckmann Teases Season 2 Scene Gamers "Will Eat Up"

Neil Druckmann offered some interesting insights into how the second game is being expanded on for HBO's The Last of Us Season 2.

When we last checked in with how things are going with Craig Mazin & Neil Druckmann's Pedro Pascal (Joel) & Bella Ramsey (Ellie)-starring The Last of Us, Casey Bloys, Chairman and CEO, HBO and Max Content, shared that the release window for Season 2 in 2025 is "generally first half of the year," adding, "I expect them [also The White Lotus] to be in the Emmy window" (which could mean a premiere before the end of May 2025). As production rolls along, Druckmann is offering some new insights into how the storyline in the second chapter of the video game will be expanded upon during the second season of the HBO series – including a scene that Druckmann says, "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."

"What I've really enjoyed now is sometimes there are these people that have watched the show and then went and played the game and talked about, what a cool experience. The game sometimes hints at stuff that we just don't have time to get into the show, that the game can and vice versa. If you experience both, they're both richer for it. And I love hearing that experience from people. They tell me, like, 'I watch the show, and then I play the game, and I really like how different the Bill sequence is, and that gave me this other insight into him," Druckmann shared during an interview with Variety's Strictly Business podcast.

Druckmann then segued into some thoughts on how the pertains to the second season, adding, "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." Here's the complete podcast episode for you to check out:

The Last of Us: Craig Mazin, Neil Druckmann on Season 2 & Beyond

Mazin on Season 2 Needing a "Breakpoint": "The story material that we got from Part II of the game is way more than the story material that was in the first game, so part of what we had to do from the start was figure out how to tell that story across seasons. When you do that, you look for natural breakpoints, and as we laid it out, this season, the natural breakpoint felt like it came after seven episodes."

Mazin on Possibly Needing Four Seasons to Tell Their Story: "We don't think that we're going to be able to tell the story even within two seasons [2 and 3] because we're taking our time and go down interesting pathways which we did a little bit in Season 1 too. We feel like it's almost assuredly going to be the case that — as long as people keep watching and we can keep making more television — Season 3 will be significantly larger. And indeed, the story may require Season 4."

Mazin on Possibly Expanding Character Story Arcs in Season 2: "Sometimes that means we do things just like the game, sometimes we do them differently. I think it'd be fair to say that since we are taking our time to dig into the story and expand certain areas, of course, there are going to be some things that are going to be expanded, but which characters and how we'll keep that secret."

Druckmann on Having "A Goal in Mind" with Season 2: "Our process was, we sketched out multiple seasons, then we did a deep dive on Season 2. To echo what Craig is saying, there is no padding; everything that is in there is intentional. There is always a goal in mind that we're heading towards, we are never meandering the sake of meandering, it's always to say something greater for these characters and the themes."

Mazin on Season 2 Having a "Quite Big" Episode: "Season 1 really was a 10-episode length season in hours. And certainly, in Season 2, there's an episode that is going to be again closer to — I don't know if I would say feature length, but quite big. I like generally hitting about an hour, it's a great length, I love working in that format. What we don't want to do is, say, a season of seven episodes where each episode is 90 minutes; part of why we're doing seven episodes is finding that nice line."

With Season 2 set to hit HBO & Max screens in 2025, Pascal, Ramsey, and Wright will be joined this season by 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, and Danny Ramirez as Manny. In addition, Catherine O'Hara also guest stars. Behind the camera, Mazin and Druckmann will be joined by Peter Hoar (S01E03: "Long, Long Time") are Mark Mylod (HBO's Succession), Nina Lopez-Corrado (HBO's Perry Mason), Stephen Williams (HBO's Watchmen) and Kate Herron (Loki).

HBO's The Last of Us is written and executive-produced by Mazin and Druckmann. The series is a co-production with Sony Pictures Television and is also executive-produced by Carolyn Strauss, Jacqueline Lesko, Cecil O'Connor, Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan, and Evan Wells. PlayStation Productions, Word Games, The Mighty Mint, and Naughty Dog serve as the production companies.

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