Posted in: HBO, Max, Preview, TV | Tagged: HBO, max, Pedro Pascal, season 2, the last of us

The Last of Us Star Pedro Pascal on Season 2 Deviating From Video Game

The Last of Us star Pedro Pascal (sling-free!) addressed a big question viewers have. How much will Season 2 deviate from the video game?

After getting some promising words from Casey Bloys, Chairman and CEO of HBO and Max Content, regarding the five scripts that he's read, we're getting some additional insights into the second season of Craig Mazin & Neil Druckmann's Pedro Pascal (Joel) & Bella Ramsey (Bella)-starring The Last of Us from someone who is definitely close to the series. Speaking with Deadline Hollywood at the Sundance Film Festival red carpet premiere event for his film Freaky Tales, a sling-free Pascal addressed a question that's been on the minds of fans since even the possibility of a second season of the HBO series was in play. How much will the second season break from the video game? "Does it deviate from the game? That's a good question," Pascal responded. "I think that they're always going to find ways to build on the incredible source material that they have and surprise us with how they can use that material in a different format, like a television show. But I wouldn't want to spoil it for anybody, and the truth is, I don't actually have all of the information as of yet."

Earlier this month, we learned that Kaitlyn Dever (No One Will Save You, Last Man Standing) had been tapped for the key role of skilled soldier Abby. In addition, Beef star Young Mazino had been tapped for the role of Jesse, and Isabela Merced (Madame Web, Maya and the Three) was set as Dina. Here's a look at Pascal offering some new insight into the second season:

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

In an interview with Variety from Summer 2023, Mazin discussed how a 2025 debut for the second season was still workable (depending on when the then-ongoing SAG-AFTRA & WGA strikes would end), 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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