The first season of HBO’s “The Last of Us” is nothing short of an absolute triumph for video-game-adapted TV shows. If Netflix’s “Arcane” has broken the curse for animated adaptations, then “The Last of Us” will be seen years from now as the show that paved the way forward for many great live-action adaptations. Ending on an equally heart-melting and yet frightening note, the story of Pedro Pascal’s Joel and Bella Ramsay’s Ellie is far from over. Fans of the video game series know what’s coming next and it is not going to be pretty. Not one bit. Beyond a few minor changes, the plot of the first season has managed to remain quite faithful to its original source material. With HBO greenlighting a second season, we can expect the same.
So stick around as we break down the ending of the first season of “The Last of Us” and discuss the plot, characters and release date of the future season! Oh and seeing that the second season will be heavily inspired by “The Last of Us Part II”, massive spoilers ahead.
Season 1 Ending Explained
Joel and Ellie have finally found the Firefly base. Marlene explains to Joel that with Ellie’s mother being infected with the Cordyceps while she was pregnant, Ellie grew up with the Cordyceps in her brain. The chemical messengers in her brain are able to prevent the Cordyceps from infecting her and turning her into a monster. Basically, the chemicals in her brain can be used as a cure to prevent infection. This comes at the expense of killing Ellie in the process though. Joel isn’t having any of that and he proceeds to massacre everyone in the Firefly base to save her.
One of the victims killed during his rampage is a surgeon who told Joel he wouldn’t let him take Ellie. His death will have major repercussions in the second season. In any case, Marlene is killed and Joel “rescues” Ellie. He lies to her about how there’s no chance for a cure and the whole Firefly base was killed by raiders. As the both of them make their way back to the Jackson Community, Ellie begins to doubt Joel’s account of things. This culminates with her asking him to swear that everything he said is true. That will also come back to haunt Joel in the second season.
Season 2 Details
Against all odds, Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have managed to fit the plot of the entire first game into this season of “The Last of Us”. While this came at the expense of some events being truncated, namely the whole cannibal subplot that the episode “When We Are in Need” is based on. Similarly, it seems that Mazin and Druckmann are set on covering the events of “The Last of Us Part II” in the second season. In an interview with Consequence, Mazin stated that he wants to remain as faithful to Druckman and Naughty Dog’s games as possible and went on to say: “I don’t like filler, I don’t like stretching. I want everything to be as compelling as possible.” This has essentially confirmed that the second season will be based on the game sequel.
Now, “The Last of Us Part II” has proven mighty controversial within the game’s fanbase for making the shocking decision to kill Joel off. This happens at the hands of Abby Anderson, whose father Jerry Anderson was one of the Firefly scientists Joel killed in the game, and now in the season finale. If you thought Glenn’s death in “The Walking Dead” was rough, you ain’t seen nothing yet. It’s especially heart-breaking seeing that Ellie and Joel in the game had a falling out after she realised Joel lied to her about possibly dooming humanity. After forgiving him and learning to live in peace, it’s all shattered when Abby tortures and kills Joel right before her very eyes. This sets Ellie on a very, very long revenge quest after Abby and the Salt Lake Crew.
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Joining Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsay in the second season will be Gabriel Luna as Tommy, Rutina Wesley as his wife Maria and Cascina Caradonna as Ellie’s girlfriend, Dina. Dina’s the girl Ellie swore at when she first arrived at the Jackson Community. You expect Abby and the members of the Salt Lake Crew to play a major role in the second season. Much like the game, Ellie will probably spend most of the second season hunting down the various members of Abby’s crew. The Salt Lake Crew is part of the Washington Liberation Front (WLF), a paramilitary group that plays a major role in “Part II”. We’ll also get to see the Seraphites, a religious faction that the the WLF and Ellie frequently clash with.
With new characters and more factions being introduced, Mazin has expressed the need to perhaps divide the story of “Part II” into more than one season. Based on that bit of info, we can expect that the second season will cover the first half of “Part II” with the third finishing the story off. Now because the events of the second game take place 4 years after that of the first, we can probably predict that we won’t be seeing the series at least for another 2 years. Bella Ramsay is currently 19-years-old so we imagine the series would want some gap in time to allow the actor to age up to suit the young adult Ellie we see in “Part II”. They’ll have to, seeing that Bella Ramsay isn’t getting recast anytime soon.
With the writer’s room for the second season already established in February this year, we can be optimistic about shooting taking place sometime next year. Then hopefully, fingers crossed, we could get a second season by mid or late 2025. One thing’s for certain though, the second season is going to be a wild ride!
You can now stream “The Last Of Us” on HBO GO.
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