“The Last of Us” Season 2 is slated to begin production in early 2024.
HBO boss Casey Bloys announced at a press conference Thursday morning that the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes had delayed production of the hit show’s sophomore season.
“The Last of Us” was not on the network’s 2024 slate presentation, meaning it could land in 2025 at the earliest.
The first season of “The Last of Us” became an instant hit when it premiered on HBO in January 2023.
Based on the massively popular PlayStation video game of the same name, the show follows a smuggler named Joel (played by Pedro Pascal in the show) in a post-apocalyptic America years after the world has been crippled by a deadly fungus.
Joel is tasked with bringing a young girl named Ellie (Bella Ramsey) across the country in order to create a cure for the cordyceps fungus. Along the way, they encounter fellow survivors, cutthroat bandits and monstrous clickers — people who have become so infected by the disease that fungi sprout from their bodies.
“The Last of Us” was renewed for Season 2 before the Season 1 finale aired. The original video game spawned one sequel, titled "The Last of Us: Part II", which creator Neil Druckmann and showrunner Craig Mazin have plans to adapt.
However, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes have put the highly anticipated second season on pause.
“We’ve outlined all of Season 2 and we’re ready to go as soon as the strike ends,” Druckmann told Entertainment Weekly.
“We were able to map out all of Season 2,” added Mazin. “And I also wrote and submitted the script for the first episode and sent it in [to HBO] around 10:30 or 10:40 p.m. right before the midnight the [WGA] strike began. I think it’s becoming essentially a near certainty that we won’t be able to start [filming] when we were hoping to start, which is upsetting. We are all raring to go.”
“The Last of Us” Season 1 picked up 24 Emmy nominations, including outstanding drama series, lead actor for Pascal, and lead actress for Ramsey.
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