It's already widely known that, as with the HBO drama's first season, HBO's "The Last of Us" season 2 will follow much of the script set out by "The Last of Us Part II" video game.
However, we also know that the new episodes — which will premiere on HBO and Max on Sunday, April 13 — won't tell the entire story from "Part II," with the events from the sequel game instead being stretched to the series' third season as well.
That leaves plenty of room for fresh material as we follow characters like Joel (Pedro Pascal), Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and newcomer Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) while they navigate their way through a brutal zombie apocalypse. And some of that added material will reportedly come from the video game's bonus features, including deleted scenes and lost levels.
(As fans might remember, season 1 added plenty of never-before-seen material, including an entire standalone episode devoted to Bill and Frank's final days.)
Back in November 2023, Neil Druckmann, the co-creator of both "The Last of Us" games and the HBO adaptation, told Entertainment Weekly, "As a tease, I will say there is at least one element from a cut level that is planned [for] the show. 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."
Druckmann doubled down on the show's incorporation of deleted material, some of which was presented for the first time in the remastered edition of "The Last of Us Part II" game, telling Entertainment Weekly in a February 2025 interview that the cut scene used is “pretty brutal, but I'm very excited for people to see it.”
The second season will also flesh out characters who never actually appeared onscreen in the video game.
“There is a pretty prominent character that is talked a lot about in the game, similar to what we did with Frank [Murray Bartlett] in season 1, that is in this season,” Druckmann told the outlet. “There’s a very, very cool casting that I hope we can talk about soon.”
We also know that comedy legend Catherine O'Hara ("Schitt's Creek", "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice") will be flexing her dramatic muscles in a role we haven't seen in the game, seemingly as a therapeutic figure for Joel.
We'll see how those deleted materials and expanded characters from the video game affect Joel, Ellie and the rest when "The Last of Us" season 2 premieres on HBO and Max next month. Tom's Guide will keep you posted on all things "TLOU" related, from plot points to character details to new teaser trailers.
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