After a second season of The Last Of Us was teased by Bella Ramsey (Ellie), HBO officially announced the renewal on January 27. With TLOU being one of the most hyped and positively reviewed series in HBO’s repertoire, the announcement of a second season is not surprising.
The series also scored a stellar 97 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and has garnered record viewership with its premiere episode. Recent reports show that the first episode has amassed over 22 million viewers in the United States alone. Meanwhile, the second episode was record-breaking as it had 5.7 million viewers on its premiere night, which was around 22 percent more than Episode 1. Furthermore, HBO claimed that the second episode was “the largest week 2 audience growth for an HBO Original drama series in the history of the network.”
With such a buoyant number of viewership amid the rough waters that HBO’s parent organization, Warner Bros. Discovery, is facing, TLOU’s second season will now be a massive priority for the network. However, the announcement of the second season has also scared certain fans of the game.
Warning! The following part of the article will contain spoilers from The Last Of Us Part II game and possibly for the upcoming Season 2 of the HBO series as well.
Why Are The Last Of Us Fans Left Bittersweet Over Season 2 Announcement?
As confirmed by series co-creator and producer Craig Mazin, the first season of The Last Of Us will follow the events of the first TLOU game. Additionally, Season 1 will also briefly go over Ellie’s backstory as showcased in the Left Behind DLC. While speaking to Gizmodo, Mazin said: “The first season is the events of the first game — and you can tell, if you have played the game, from watching the marketing materials that we’re also covering the events of the Left Behind.”
Furthermore, in the extended interview with The Hollywood Reporter for their cover shoot, Neil Druckmann mentioned the second season will cover TLOU Part II (2020). The game and HBO series’ creator also hinted that the second season might cover the events of the second installment of the game in its entirety. For the uninitiated, TLOU Part II‘s ending had one of the most divisive and controversial conclusions in video game history, resulting in Joel Miller’s demise.
This is precisely why TLOU fans are worried about the fate of Pedro Pascal’s live-action take on the character. However, HBO and the series’ producers may decide to split the story of the second game into two seasons. This would mean that the second season may include the unfortunate demise of Joel at the vengeful hands of Abby Anderson. In such a scenario, the potential third season of the series will deal with Ellie‘s revenge against Abby over Joel’s murder.
However, HBO may decide to greenlight additional seasons if Druckmann’s Naughty Dog eventually decides to make TLOU Part III. The possibility of a third installment of the game is not implausible, as Neil Druckmann has not outright rejected such a hypothesis. In a recent interview with BuzzFeed, Druckmann said: “If we can come up with a compelling story that has this universal message and statement about love — just like the first and second game did — then we will tell that story. If we can’t come up with something, we have a very strong ending with Part 2, and that will be the end.”
Memes Galore Over The Last Of Us Season 2 Announcement
As mentioned before, if The Last Of Us Season 2 follows the game’s events to the tee, then Pedro Pascal’s Joel Miller will eventually be killed off. Following the announcement, this has resulted in a legion of memes that make light of this possible development in the upcoming season.
However, such bittersweet reactions are still a nice welcome, compared to the massive uproar caused over Joel’s death in The Last Of Us Part II. In 2020, the outrage also led to a myriad of death threats against the developers, voice actors, and creators of the game. Thus, it remains to be seen if the likely decision to kill Joel in Season 2 will result in similar hate towards HBO and Druckmann.
