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The Last of Us S02 May Include "Element" from Part II Deleted Scenes

Neil Druckmann teased that an "element" from the deleted scenes on the remastered version of The Last of Us Part II could end up in Season 2.

Thanks to HBO & Max CEO and Chairman Casey Bloys and a weekly production list, all signs point to production on the second season of Neil Druckmann & Craig Mazin's Pedro Pascal (Joel) & Bella Ramsey (Bella)-starring The Last of Us beginning in early 2024 – possibly January. Thanks to an email from Druckman, fans are learning that the upcoming remastered version of 2020's The Last of Us Part II that's set for the PlayStation 5 will have one bonus feature in particular that they will want to pay close attention to. With "Lost Levels," fans are presented with a number of playable sequences that didn't make the cut when the original game was finalized – but could make their way into the second season of the HBO series.

"As a tease, I will say there is at least one element from a cut level that is planned [for] the show," Druckmann shared in a communication with EW. "I say that with the caveat that we haven't started filming the show yet, and all things are subject to change based on what we ultimately feel will be best for the show." Though moments from those scenes could very well end up making it into the series, Druckmann made it clear that it's still too early to tell what could end up making it into the second season – and from reading too much into the deleted scenes. "While the TV show has diverged from the original works to suit the medium and likely will again, these levels are not meant to be indicative of work on the HBO show, which is separate from Part II Remastered's development," Druckmann added.

The Last of Us: Craig Mazin of Season 2 & Beyond

In an interview with Variety from earlier in the summer, Mazin discussed how a 2025 debut for the second season was still workable (but less & less so the longer the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes continue), confirmed that Season 3 will happen (as long as the viewers keep watching), and addressed the possibility of familiar faces returning in flashbacks (and why they have no plans to mess with that "beautiful" episode).

"The Last of Us" Could Still Make Its 2025 Delivery Date – For Now: "We had a little more flexibility, I think, than normally just because we had to wait a little bit longer any way to line up production with the weather. A lot of what we do is outside, and so we had a schedule that weirdly hasn't been immediately impacted. But we're getting pretty close; we can't keep our original start dates forever, obviously. If these strikes go much longer, we inevitably will have to push, and that hurts us, and it hurts the audience, and it hurts HBO. We all, everybody wants to get back to work; I think everybody that's actually doing the work, including the network people who are with us on the ground, I think everybody just wants to get this solved. So fingers crossed."

"The Last of Us" Season 3 Will Happen As Long As Viewers Keep Watching: "It's 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 canceled. Barring that, we will be doing some things exactly the way they were in the game. We're going to do other things that are in the game, and we're gonna do some things that are in the game, but we're gonna do them differently in our own method. No matter if you have played the game or not. You will be surprised as the season unfolds. We have some interesting twists and turns."

Could Melanie Lynskey, Storm Reid & Others Return via Flashbacks? "There's always a chance for everything. With us, you never know, and we obviously don't confine ourselves by timelines. People who are dead sometimes reappear, and sometimes we meet people that we didn't even know, and then we find out that they are somebody."

Mazin on Why There Won't Be Another Bill (Nick Offerman) & Frank (Murray Bartlett) Episode: "What you won't see is, for instance, another very special episode with Bill and Frank; we aren't going to milk it. When we do something that we think is beautiful, we let it be as it is and find other beautiful things to do."

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