Bella Ramsey revealed a possible release window for HBO's The Last of Us Season 2.
The first season of the post-apocalyptic drama has been a massive success on HBO as it brought Naughty Dog's beloved PlayStation game to life. Almost immediately another Season was greenlit and is expected to cover the events of the second video game, The Last of Us Part II.
Showrunner Craig Mazin so far confirmed that Bella Ramsey will return as Ellie in the second season, despite there being a bit of a time jump. Additionally, Mazin warned that events of the show may be "fairly different" from the game, in a similar way to the first season.
The question now remains, when can fans expect to see The Last of Us season 2?
When Will The Last of Us Season 2 Premiere?
In a recent appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show (via The Independent), The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey provided an update on Season 2.
Unfortunately, it seems audiences may be waiting "a while" for more of The Last of Us, with Ramsey predicting that filming will begin later this year, meaning the new season will likely release "end of 2024, early 2025:"
“It will be a while. I think we’ll probably shoot at the end of this year, beginning of next."
"So it’ll probably be the end of 2024, early 2025.”
Pedro Pascal, who stars as Joel in The Last of Us, said a similar thing in an interview recently, confirming that "there is a chance" season 2 will begin filming in 2023.
Could The Last of Us Season 2 Be Released Next Year?
It's no secret that The Last of Us was a mammoth production for HBO. Shooting for the first season took place in Canada over a full year, starting in July 2021. With the series only releasing in January of 2023, that's a long 18-month production cycle.
Showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have clearly already started thinking of how to tackle the next season, so depending on how quickly they go into pre-production on Season 2, it seems feasible it could begin filming by the end of the year.
While The Last of Us Part II is a larger game than the first, it appears that it may be split across multiple seasons. That could potentially involve a shorter shooting schedule that might even speed up the production cycle of the next season, making a late 2024 release possible.
Regardless, it does seem like fans will be waiting a long time for another season of The Last of Us, but given the success of the first season, it will hopefully be worth the wait.
The Last of Us Season 1 is now streaming on HBO Max.
