It sounds like filming on The Last of Us Season 2 is close to wrapping. Filming on the sophomore season of the hit HBO adaptation of the beloved PlayStation franchise began nearly six months ago.
The production update came from Isabela Merced during a recent interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast. Merced is set to play Dina, Ellie's partner in the second game, in the upcoming season.
"We are on the tail end of it. I think we're about to be done soon," she said. "I already saw the teaser. Craid showed it to me. It was phenomenal and I'm really excited for the world to see it."
Talking about her familiarity with the game, Merced revealed that she played the second game and was amazed at how the sets in the series look exactly like it.
"It's so neat and I found myself, just, every day on set is challenging," she said. "It's a show about fungus so it's not glamorous by any means. And it's hard topics and conversations Fear is one of the main emotions that we experience throughout."
Merced also went on to praise co-star Bella Ramsey, who plays Ellie in the series. "I'm really proud of Bella," she added. "I really hope Bella gets their flowers. They're working really, really hard physically and emotionally, mentally."
The conversation then shifted to the toxicity that sometimes surrounds the show due to its controversial characters and topics — specifically involving the character of Abby, played by Kaitlyn Dever in the series. This led to Merced revealing something surprising (and sad).
“There are people that genuinely hate Abby, who is not a real person,” Merced said when the interviewer brought up the possible hate Kaitlyn would receive just through proxy of just being Abby. “Just a reminder, not a real person. Kaitlyn had to be extra secured by security when it came to the filming of this.”
While Abby is one of the playable characters in The Last of Us Season 2, her controversial actions in the game led to many people immediately disliking her. I won't spoil exactly what she does, but let's just say it caused considerable backlash online that still persists to this day.
It's unclear if her actions from the game will make their way into Season 2 or if we'll have to wait for that fateful moment later on in the series. Either way, anyone familiar with the game will know what to expect from her.
HBO has yet to release an official trailer for The Last of Us Season 2 although footage was shown at the end of a montage of shows coming to HBO and its Max streaming service in 2024 and 2025.
The Last of Us Season 2, which will consist of seven episodes, is set to release in 2025.