Considering The Last of Us excelled at bringing the first video game's story to live-action so faithfully, I never expected the source material's second volume to be adapted in full for Season 2. Part II takes a long time to get through, as the story goes farther and deeper than Joel and Ellie's solo story ever could. So it's not so surprising to hear that a huge plot point won't be explored during the 2025 TV schedule, but I am surprised to hear the reason.
Craig Mazin And Neil Druckmann Reveal Major Plotline That Won't Be Fully Explored In Season 2
The third episode of The Last of Us Season 2 introduced a roaming group of Seraphites, with a doomed father and daughter offering up faction-based exposition, while I'd talked in my Episode 4 live blog about the always excellent Jeffrey Wright reprising his game role of WLF leader Isaac. It's a character who doesn't pop up often in the game, and I'm definitely not the only viewer excited to see his story expand.
But as co-creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann revealed in the latest installment of HBO's The Last of Us Podcast, fans may not get to see the full scope of Isaac's WLF leadership, as the series is for now holding back on digging into the WLF's complicated and exceedingly violent war with the Seraphites. Mazin said:
The question is, what is Isaac pursuing. And these questions about this war may not be answered this season. There will be some mysteries.
Even knowing there are only three episodes left to go in Season 2, I'm still taken aback by Mazin's assertion there. Given the flashback to Isaac's official exit from FEDRA, bookended with him torturing that Scar with Williams Sonoma pans in the present, I definitely expected that game-based storyline to become more of a focus as Ellie and Dina are on the road far from the comforts of Jackson.
However, it appears we'll be waiting until the third cycle hits HBO to get those answers, with Neil Druckmann sharing:
Now that we’re renewed for Season 3, we could say, you will definitely get those.
Thankfully, the premium cabler's execs made the call and ordered up Season 3 ahead of the second season's hectic premiere, which plays into the overall idea that the creative team broke up The Last of Us Part II's story to play out across two different seasons, with the future beyond that still up in the air. But apparently that plan didn't come with the confidence that HBO would play along.
The Bonkers Reason The Co-Creators Held Back From Exploring The War In Season 2
I think anyone aware of The Last of Us' existence would agree that Season 1 was a hit, and that anticipation for Season 2 was immediately lofty, especially with the massive tragedy that went down in Episode 2. So when the co-creators revealed that they wouldn't be attempting to shoehorn the second game's entire storyline into a single season of TV, I assumed that meant they were bullish about earning follow-up seasons.
Apparently that was overly optimistic of me, as Craig Mazin suggests the reason they held off of digigng into the Wolves conflict with the Scars is because nobody was sure if the show would continue. As he put it:
That’s the thing. We just didn’t know if we were getting canceled, guys. We will absolutely find out exactly what they’re about, exactly what he wants, which is the most important thing to understand about characters, but there will be some mystery to sit with for a while.
I'm flabbergasted. In part because I don't even fully believe that anyone working on The Last of Us after Season 1 thought that the second season might be the final one. Especially if Mazin and Druckmann were up front with HBO's bosses about how they wanted to split the plot up. I guess if the network execs were being very prissy about the show's chances, while showing off an abundance of newer projects that wouldn't be killing off 75% of the characters introduced, then I could understand.
On the flip side, maybe Neil Druckmann was overly cautious about fan reactions to Joel's demise at the hands of Kaitlyn Dever's Abby, given the catastrophic blowback the game faced for that particular sequence. But it's already clear that the live-action drama didn't deal with anything so harsh, so that hypothetical caution was all for naught.
I suppose holding off on exploring the WLF's issues with the Scars will drive anticipation for Season 3, but I'm wondering how the show will continue depicting Isaac's leadership and the Seraphites as an antagonist group without going deeper into those stories. So I guess I'll find out one day, but for now, I'm too busy waiting on the next episode to arrive.
The Last of Us airs new episodes on Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET on HBO or for those with Max subscriptions.
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