With only a few weeks before The Last of Us Season 2 sets up shop in Vancouver, more news is coming out concerning the new season of the acclaimed HBO adaptation. After the network confirmed the actors for the three main additions to the new season last week, a new report has thrown in the first director we’ve heard for this season.
Per TheInSneider.com, Loki season 1 helmer Kate Herron will be directing at least one episode of the new season — with Sneider speculating it will be two. It will be her first directing job since her critically acclaimed work in the MCU series, which seems hard to believe. Perhaps an Emmy-recognized HBO series like The Last of Us will finally be her breakout moment. Besides a bunch of shorts, her career has consisted of guest-directing episodes of TV on various series, including four episodes of the first season of Netflix’s Sex Education.
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In the new season, Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey will be joined by Kaitlyn Dever (Abby), Isabela Merced (Dina), and Young Mazino (Jesse). Gabriel Luna is also expected to return as Joel’s brother, Tommy, who has a larger role in the second game — and thus, presumably, in season 2.
HBO’s Casey Bloys Weighs In on The Last of Us Season 2
You might have seen Pascal in various awards ceremonies with his arm in a sling. (“Kieran Culkin beat the shit out of me,” he joked during the Emmys.) That could present complications for the HBO series, but the network’s chief executive Casey Bloys had some reassuring words. When asked by Variety about Pascal’s injury, Bloys said the following:
“I think they figured out a way. I can’t tell you exactly what the production plan is. But I know that they have taken that into account. I don’t even know the exact nature of the injury, but I know that production has figured out a way to work around it.”
In a separate, post-Emmys interview with Deadline, Bloys said the following about the new season:
“It’s great. It is bigger, gets into questions of retribution and revenge, it follows the video game but has big themes, big action. [Creators] Craig [Mazin], Neil [Druckmann] and the team are doing a spectacular job.”
He’s read five scripts. This process has been a huge undertaking for lead writer Craig Mazin, who, before the five-month work stoppage due to the strikes, had only turned in the script for the first episode of the second season. We assume the rest was in varying degrees of completion, but Mazin had to finish writing at least four of them over the past three months since writers got back to work at the beginning of October.
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We don’t know for sure if all scripts are done at this point, even with filming scheduled for Feb. 9. Mazin has gone on the record saying how he was still finishing scripts for season 1 while they were shooting, and that he’d like not to repeat that experience. But with the inconvenience of the strike and the tight schedules, he was probably forced to do it all over again. After all, he hasn’t just spent three months writing — he’s also the co-showrunner and executive producer (and maybe even director of an episode or two). So he’s had a lot of other tasks to attend to, including the casting of Dina, Abby, and Jesse.
Regardless, we’re in great hands here. Mazin and Neil Druckmann struck gold with the first season, and they will surely be able to replicate it — even if the network should be getting ready for some pretty fierce blowback considering the reception to The Last of Us Part II.
About HBO’s The Last of Us
Release Date: Jan. 15, 2023 (Season 1); Season 2 TBA
Created by: Craig Mazin and Neill Druckman
Executive producers: Craig Mazin, Neill Druckman, Carolyn Strauss, Evan Wells, Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan, and Rose Lam
Production: Sony Pictures Television, PlayStation Production, Word Games, The Mighty Mint, and Naughty Dog
Distribution: HBO, Max
Cast: Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, Gabriel Luna, Anna Torv, Nico Parker, Murray Barlett, Nick Offerman, Melanie Lynskey, Storm Reid, Merle Dandridge, Jeffrey Pierce, Lamar Johnson, Keivonn Woodard, Graham Greene, Elaine Miles, Ashley Johnson, and Troy Baker
Synopsis (Season 1): The Last of Us takes place 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie, a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal and heartbreaking journey as they both must traverse the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.
What do you think about Kate Herron joining The Last of Us season 2 as a director? Do you have any other picks for the new season? If you know the story of the game, is there any specific chapter you’d like to see her adapt? Let us know your thoughts on our social media channels on Discord and X, and stay tuned for more on The Last of Us!
SOURCE: TheInSneider.com
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