HBO's live-action adaptation of The Last of Us has gotten rave reviews from critics and viewers. While cast members have beenteasing a second season for the highly-rated TV series for a while now, it has finally become official: The Last of Us has been renewed.
News of a second season hitting HBO broke just as the third episode of the series premiered. Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann is elated that the series will be continuing the story of Joel and Ellie - in stark contrast to recent comments that the game series might not continue.
"I'm humbled, honored, and frankly overwhelmed that so many people have tuned in and connected with our retelling of Joel and Ellie's journey," Druckmann said in a statement following official confirmation of the show's continuation.
"The collaboration with Craig Mazin, our incredible cast & crew, and HBO exceeded my already high expectations. Now we have the absolute pleasure of being able to do it again with season two! On behalf of everyone at Naughty Dog & PlayStation, thank you!
Series co-creator and executive producer Craig Mazin is thankful for the collaboration with Druckmann. I'm so grateful to Neil Druckmann and HBO for our partnership, and I'm even more grateful to the millions of people who have joined us on this journey," Mazin said. "The audience has given us the chance to continue, and as a fan of the characters and world Neil and Naughty Dog created, I couldn't be more ready to dive back in."
Actor Bella Ramsey recently teased a second season for The Last of Us, saying that the series will be renewed "if people keep watching." Ramsey plays Ellie in the hit TV series based on Naughty Dog's popular IP.
The second episode of the TV show saw amassive increase in its viewership. Episode 2 attracted 5.7 million viewers in the US, which is a 22% growth from the first episode. "This marks the largest week 2 audience growth for an HBO Original drama series in the history of the network," HBO said in a statement.
Neil Druckmann hinted that the second season will be based on The Last of Us Part 2. Fans of the show and the game series are speculating on who will be cast as Abby Anderson in the second season. Sophie Turner, Florence Pugh, and Shannon Berry are actors that have been suggested for the role.
Druckmann also teased that the video game series may have a third installment. However, the game director revealed in a recent interview that the studio may be moving on from Uncharted and The Last of Us games. The outline for The Last of Us Part 3 has already been written; however, the studio has not yet begun work on the game.
Naughty Dog is currently working on a multiplayer spin-off for The Last of Us. Druckmann said that the game is the most ambitious project from the studio. The third episode of The Last of Us is available for streaming on HBO. New episodes are released every Sunday.