Major spoilers for The Last of Us Part II video game narrative, so those who haven’t played yet should tread carefully and listen for errant clicking sounds.
One of HBO’s biggest hits in recent years, and by proxy a top streaming pick on Max, The Last of Us was quickly thrown into the conversation for best video game adaptations ever. The show’s quality doesn’t appear to be dipping in TLOU Season 2, with many more desolate and monster-filled locations to explore throughout the 2025 TV schedule. But the latest footage does potentially hint at major changes being made to the core characters’ timelines, which would give TV viewers a VERY different experience from what gamers grappled with.
Just such a change was speculated about previously, when an earlier Season 2 trailer showed new addition Kaitlyn Dever kneeling by a makeshift grave, though like many other game fanatics, I wasn’t convinced showrunner Craig Mazin and source material director Neil Druckmann would actively make such a consequential adjustment, even if I can grasp the logic behind wanting the live-action series’ audience to react in far less polarized ways than gamers did to the controversial narrative reveals. Let’s look at the key moment from the latest footage that seem to point to such changes.
The Footage Kicks Off With Abby At THAT Location
Considering fans spent the first season following and caring massively for Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey's Joel and Ellie, and are no doubt wondering what their current status is, it is highly curious (at least from an outsider perspective) for this release-window reveal footage to kick off with the second season's biggest new cast member in a familiar-ish location that majorly ties into the character's highly important backstory.
To rip the Band-Aid off here: a seemingly younger version of Kaitlyn Dever's Abby is wearing her Firefly pendant necklace while walking carefully through the halls of what I can only assume is the hospital where all manner of carnage went down in the Season 1 finale, in which Joel more or less doomed humanity by refusing to allow doctors to sacrifice Ellie to study her immunity.
As gamers are aware, someone who was killed during all that chaos was a very important person in Abby's life, and that death sets the character on a years-long path to vengeance that brutally shakes up the lives of other more familiar survivors. However, this entire story point doesn't comes to light until deep into the second game's narrative, after a key point in which Abby seemingly proves herself to be a Grade A villain, completely upending expectations and viewpoints.
If The Last of Us Season 2 is already hinting at this moment happening, with the key alarm sounds instantly heightening my blood pressure, then it possibly means Mazin and Druckmann will shift these flashback scenes to appear earlier for the live-action series, potentially to give viewers more empathy from Abby from the outset. That'd be understandable, since I really don't want Kaitlyn Dever to suffer the wrath of his fanbase, but it would also shatter an element that makes playing Part II such an unforgettable experience.
Most Other Moments Line Up With The First Half Of The Game's Timeline
While we'll be waiting a while to figure out whether or not any such timeline alterations were implemented, i'm happy to see familiar moments that definitely came from the first half of the game. From Ellie and Dina's dancing and their harrowing subway trip to what appears to be a Seraphite dragging a sickle during the woodsy sequence with Ellie and a very unfortunate WLF member. Perhaps most telling? Not a whole lot of Joel footage.
One of the biggest questions fans have had is whether or not the TV show's creative team will actually pull off the video game's biggest shocker in Season 2, or if they'll hold off until the third season to extend the drawing power of Pedro Pascal. Either way, my eyes and tear ducts will be glued to my screens.
The Last of Us Season 2 will be available to watch on HBO and stream with a Max subscription in April, though an exact premiere date is yet to be revealed.
